


To the pretty ghost I saw that night

by intergalacticfrog



Category: IZONE (Band)
Genre: 2kim, A pretty ghost, Angst but light only, Chaewon is a ghost, F/F, Fluff, Ghosts, Horror-ish, Scaredy cat Minjoo, The Idiot and her Ghost friend, The pretty ghost Minjoo saw in her dream, awoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:47:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29358207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intergalacticfrog/pseuds/intergalacticfrog
Summary: Horror movies never get it right.Here's Minjoo telling you just how lovely ghosts can be!
Relationships: Kim Chaewon (IZONE)/Kim Minju
Comments: 28
Kudos: 126





	To the pretty ghost I saw that night

1

_How dare Yena corrupt her dear bird?_

Minjoo swears, head resting on her hand. She pretends to listen to what the teacher has been saying, but in her mind are ways how to make Yena pay. 

_Community service, Eight hours, Reflect on your actions,_ she hears the teacher say, and after that Minjoo had started zone out.

“Do you all agree?” The teacher asks, though her tone implies that there isn’t any room for negotiations. Afterall, they’re all here because they have committed — as the school principal says - grave misconducts.

Apparently bringing a pet to school without a permit isn’t allowed, especially if said pet is a bird, and said bird is a parrot, and said parrot had disturbed their history class. Ms. Kim dotes on her (maybe because they’re both Kims?” but even for her, it was too much. See, Minjoo makes sure only to teach pleasant words to Alfie — that’s the name — but much to her chagrin, Alfie began spouting off bad words, calling names like “Minjoo stoopid,” “Hitler stoopid,” in the middle of their discussion.

She just knows that the reason behind this is Yena, her best friend's hyperactive girlfriend and her friend (unfortunately). She often leaves Alfie to them whenever she’s at school since both girls are of different departments from hers, them being in Art and Performance means having most of the night time shift schedules. Minjoo? She’s glad her department insisted on sticking to day schedules, which means she won't be dealing with a messed up circadian rhythm. 

  
  


Looking around, Minjoo notices the three other people in the room with her. She meets Yujin’s eyes and throws a questioning look at the younger. _“What did you do again this time?”_ Yujin mouths a “ _Later”_ and waves her off. Minjoo isn't quite familiar yet with the other two. They seem to be seniors, the girl smiling so widely Minjoo almost thinks she’s glad to be in detention and the other one, covered in a hoodie, a pungent smell, strikingly similar to cigarettes reaching Minjoo. 

Once the teacher goes out of the room, Minjoo stands and walks to Yujin, “Let me guess, you put spaghetti on the teacher’s chair.”

Yujin makes an X with her arms and says, “Wrong! It was peanut butter!”

“That is so much worse!” Minjoo laughs. It’s a miracle that Yujin still hasn’t been expelled. Though if your mother is the school principal then maybe it’s not. Minjoo doesn’t quite know what Yujin’s deal really is, always causing trouble for her mother and pulling pranks on some unfortunate teacher - Yujin’s favorite victims are Math teachers and Minjoo may not agree with her, but she completely understands her for that. 

“He is not seriously asking us to do that right?” She hears Yujin ask beside her. They’re walking through the hallway, avoiding collision from bodies of rushing students as they talk. 

“What do you mean?” Minjoo asks, quickening her pace that Yujin easily matches. Tuesday means special cheeseballs and she doesn’t trust Nako’s to leave her some.

Yujin cocks her head and makes a sour expression. “The community service this time. Clean the town cemetery for two nights.” She wraps her arms around herself and shivers, as if the thought of spending two nights in the graveyard horrifies her. And it actually is indeed, horrifying. "Are they for real? I can’t believe they’re making us do this. I don’t care about cleaning my record anymore.I’ll definitely won’t go!”

At that, Minjoo snaps her head. She mentally scolds herself for spacing out earlier. “No Yujin, you can’t leave me alone in this!”

Unlike Yujin, Minjoo most certainly cannot afford her _little parrot incident_ to leave a permanent mark on her track record, that is if she still wants to be eligible for college scholarship applications. The good thing about their greatly questionable school, is that your _grave misconducts_ can be erased through equally greatly questionable community services. One time a class of juniors served at a tailor shop, making togas for the graduating upperclassmen ( _“Isn’t that child labor,”_ Yena asks one time) and how Minjoo wishes right now to be making togas instead or even pretend to be a life guard on duty at the community pool ( _Yep, their school also asked them to do that)_. 

Yujin makes a face at her and retorts, “Did you not hear what the Lee sisters said about the place? They said they saw a scythe-carrying old woman standing under the large sycamore tree there!”

Minjoo shudders, her eyes wide. The way Yujin says the story is spooky and reminds her of the sleepovers she had with Yuri as they share ghost stories, a flashlight under their face, blanket over their heads.

“But—” But before Minjoo could start to argue, they arrive at the cafeteria and their voices drown out in the chattering mass of students around them. 

Nako shouts at them, a tray full of cheeseballs on her table and the talk of cemeteries and community services are temporarily forgotten.

  
  


2

  
  


_Friday, Nov. 10, 2020, 3:36 P.M._

**Minjoo:**

[ Yujin pleaseee go w/me T_T ]

_Friday, Nov. 10, 2020, 3:40 P.M._

**Yujin:**

[ Yujin can't come to da phone right now.

[ Y? ]

[ Cuz she’s scared. ]

_Friday, Nov. 10, 2020, 3:41 P.M._

**Minjoo:**

[ I’ll treat u tteokbokki next time... ]

_Friday, Nov. 10, 2020, 3:43 P.M._

**Yujin:**

[ Joo, I rlly cant. Not gud with cemeteries. ]

  
  


“I’ll guess that’s that,” Minjoo says to herself while turning her phone off. Surely, she won’t be alone in this right? There are still two more people in detention with them. Though she doubts the smoker guy would show up. Grabbing her jacket, she walks to Alfie’s cage and double checks if there’s enough food in her bowl. The bird can’t have too much nor too little. 

And she mentally notes to have some one on one talk, a.k.a. Yena Intervention with Alfie one she gets home.

She’s walking near the door when Yuri called her back, “Where are you going?” Yuri asks, her voice slurred due to sleep, eyes bleary and barely open. She’s wrapped with a blanket, her messy grey hair poking out in all directions, reminding Minjoo of a bird’s nest.

“To the cemetery Yul. Community service.” Minjoo answers as she wears her shoes. “Wanna come?”

Yuri makes a face as a response and stalks towards Alfie. “I’ve scolded Yena by the way. She said she’ll treat you meat as a peace offering.” 

Minjoo chortles at that. “Well then tell her she can’t take it back anymore! Gotta go Yul, there’s food in the fridge just heat it up. Bye!”

“Bye~” She hears both Yuri and Alfie say. 

  
  
  


_Friday, Nov. 10, 2020, 6:30 P.M._

No one came! Not even the girl with the smiley face.

Standing at the entrance of the cemetery, a wide sign written with “Greentown Town Cemetery”, Minjoo starts to think that this is all a joke, (Seriously what kind of name is Greentown Town). The Lee sisters were probably exaggerating, the cemetery isn’t as large and wide as they made it out to be, a guard post is situated at the corner, not too far from where she’s standing, and lamp posts light the gray colored pavements, revealing blocks of green patches where differently shaped gravestones — some are pillars, crosses and blocks — are arranged in a linear manner.

It looks like a typical cemetery. Even better and properly maintained than the one she visits in her mother’s hometown. She had moved here with Yuri for quite some time now, but it’s her first time entering the place.

Red cedar trees line the corner of each lot, but oddly, there’s a large lone sycamore tree perched in the middle. _Aren’t they commonly large though._ The area underneath it is particularly darker than the rest, obscured from the glow of the full moon. Something [her coward ass] tells Minjoo to avoid going near that tree at all costs.

But all in all, the place seems okay, and really, it’s just your plain o’le cemetery.

So what could go wrong? 

Feeling a tad bit braver, Minjoo ambles towards the guard post and is welcomed by an old lady. When she sees Minjoo, she offers her a smile, and Minjoo notices that one of her front teeth is chipped, her face wrinkled and cheeks saggy. 

“Oh is it only you?” The old lady asks, voice scratchy, and her eyes showing a hint of disappointment, probably expecting more of them to come and help clean the place.

Minjoo felt guilty. She should’ve tried better in forcing Yujin to come. The woman was already a bit too old to be a caretaker of the town’s cemetery. Of course, she would need all the help she can get. All Soul’s day recently passed and despite the officials’ constant reminder to not litter and keep their place clean, large posters written with “CLEAN AS YOU GO” in bold letters, there are some that are utterly thick headed and blind, or maybe they just don’t care, leaving their own mess and passing the responsibility to other people. A wave of understanding and admiration for their school washes over Minjoo. She nods sheepishly and says. “I guess no one’s coming anymore. Don’t worry Ma’am, I’ll do my best!

The old lady gives her a kind smile, the lines on her eyes sinking into her dark eyes. “Just do what you can do dear. It’s impossible to clean this place all by yourself. I already appreciate you coming here to help me.”

Minjoo returns a smile. The old lady reminded her of her own grandmother, both having the same warm smile and an aura that always calmed Minjoo down.

She hands Minjoo cleaning materials and points her to a certain block. The caretaker reminds her to take it easy before she proceeds on her way.

The flashlight on her forehead makes her feel silly, like she's a member of ghostbusters, but only with a broom and a garbage bag as weapons. She starts to clean, picking up wrappers of candies and bottles of water all the while occasionally looking at the guard post to remind herself that she’s not alone. Soon she eases into her chore, sweeping leaves that fell on the tombstones as she hums whatever song comes to mind.

Still, she avoids the area near the large tree, too dark for her own liking. In no time, she _almost_ easily accomplishes cleaning a whole block.

Minjoo wipes the pool of sweat on her forehead, and pauses to survey at the tombstones. The patches of grass look black under the nightlight, a few spots having no grass and instead freshly tilled soil, and the tombstones are, well, dead and gray. There’s really nothing much to it but Minjoo regards each tombstone scrupulously, acknowledging the names carved on the cold headstones, the dates of their birth until the day they died, their epitaphs and the recent flowers, melted candles and offerings placed on them.

_Rest in peace, In loving memory of…, gone but never forgotten_ , these were usually the common epitaphs Minjoo finds while she regards each line of stones. Sometimes she reads amusing epitaphs — _a woman with too many cats —_ even movie references such as, _Here lies Dobby, a free elf_ (She felt quite bad for laughing), and simple witty ones like _Dead_ and _Finally_. There are also poetic epitaphs, words of their favorite author and poets, lines from favorite books. Reading these, Minjoo briefly ponders what kind of person lies beneath such grave, and tries to recreate them within her mind with only a few words written on a stone.

  
  


A memory comes into her mind. 

  
  


When she was young, she and her mother would traditionally go back to her hometown to accompany her grandmother in visiting her grandfather’s grave. Her grandmother would prepare a feast, buy bouquets of fresh-smelling flowers, candles on sturdy glasses that burned for a long time.

It seemed so excessive for Minjoo, food wasted and beautiful flowers just rotting away. _He’s dead, gone forever. What’s the use?_

One time she asked, and her grandmother answered, a solemn smile, her decrepit face unable to wither the warm glow of her eyes, _It’s how we remember them, so as they are not truly dead. My husband, yes he died, he’s here, under this stone, probably all bones and rot, but he didn’t stay dead, as long as I’m alive and I remember him, offering him flowers, and his favorite food._

She pointed her finger at Minjoo’s heart, spots of brown and black on her glassy skin, _As long as I remember him, and your mother remembers him, and you remember him, your future children, and so on. That goes for me too._

Young Minjoo was still just as confused. _But Gran, why are you pointing at my heart? My teacher told me that it’s the brain that remembers things. And Gran, that’s impossible, I haven’t spent that much time with him, and I don’t have many memories of him. What if… What if I forget him?_ The young girl’s voice was troubled, her face on the verge of crying. It was all too complicated, and she didn’t want to forget her grandfather, she didn’t want to fail her grandmother, but all she remembers of him was that he smelled like tires and gasoline and that when he carried Minjoo on her arms, she felt like a bird and that was the happiest she's ever been.

The old woman laughed and pulled Minjoo, whose tears are already falling on her small face, into a hug. _It’s because the heart will always remember._ Her grandmother’s hands were tender on her back. _You are still young my white dove, soon, you will understand._

  
  
  


Until now, Minjoo still doesn’t understand.

Too engrossed at the memory, Minjoo fails to notice that she had walked directly under the sycamore tree, its branches and dark leaves eclipsing the glow of the moon, only allowing small streaks of blue light to seep through. On most occasions, she would have freaked out, but a fragment memory of her childhood made her miss her grandmother. So she continued to snoop around until a particular tombstone caught her whole attention.

The tombstone, like all others, was made of stone. This one however, seems somber, even depressing to look at. Covered with weeds, dusts and cobwebs, the inscriptions on the headstone are barely visible. The grasses around the tomb are longer than the rest, overgrown weeds poking from the trimmed patches around it.

_Minjoo’s heart tightens into a knot,_ her grandmother’s words strangely resounding within her.

It takes no fool to figure out that this one has been forgotten, probably unvisited for years. She thinks about the people this person has left behind. There must be. And Minjoo wonders, those people must be coping in their own way, in a way that’s completely different from her grandmother’s. _The bereaved mourns in their own way._ Taking in the run-down tombstone again, which of them is _the one left behind?_ The living who go on with their lives, or the dead who eventually fades into oblivion? It's probably the latter for this one.

_Minjoo doesn’t understand,_ but she’s seized with an urge to stay.

She takes it upon herself to clean the tombstone, plucking the weeds that grew between the cracks of the headstone, and wiping the heavy set dust with her sleeves — She makes a mental note to ask the old lady for a grass cutter tomorrow. It takes her a minute of intense rubbing and scratching to remove the mud that dried on the headstone, the engraved words turning visible with every wipe. She tilts her head in confusion as she reads the epitaph, **_Find me._ **

_Minjoo’s heart tightens into a knot,_ finding a phrase of two short words a little cruel.

She sits, and continues to check the other inscriptions. They were almost of the same age, Minjoo born a little late, and the day of death tells her that it has been three years since this tombstone stood. That’s all information she had, and the epitaph _—_ _too scarce, (and cruel) she thinks —_ aren’t enough for Minjoo to form an image of this person in her mind.

Sound of muffled footsteps disturbs her from her musings, and for a moment, Minjoo felt scared, Yujin’s haunting voice, young Yuri, her face lit up with a flashlight as she tells Minjoo about the headless lady she saw in the old abandoned church back home, the Lee sisters’ silly story — all washing over her, while she sat on the cold dark grass, still and petrified. 

The old caretaker lady’s scratchy voice brought her back. “Child, it’s getting late now. You should go home.”

Minjoo clutches her chest, and heaves a sigh of relief. _Stupid Yujin, stupid ghost stories, and stupid rumors._

She returns the cleaning materials to the caretaker and gives her thanks, assuring the old lady that she’ll be back tomorrow night. 

Minjoo goes home, her heart still in a knot wondering about what the words _Find me_ meant. She doesn’t understand. _Isn't it supposed to be the brain's job to figure things out?_

  
  
  


The next day, she goes back to the cemetery, a little less scared than before, and more eager to clean another block of the yard. She keeps glancing at the tree, the barren tombstone she saw last night, hooded and dark under the reaching branches and leaves. 

When she finishes, the caretaker assures her that the school will know and that she’s all cleared of service. Minjoo then shakes her head, and offers, “I would love to come by and help here sometime. If you don’t mind.”

The old caretaker just smiles, her chipped tooth painfully and strikingly bright against the night light. 

Before she leaves, Minjoo notices an arrangement of assorted flowers near the guard station. Lilies, Chrysanthemums, Orchids, Carnations, and more that Minjoo doesn’t know the names of. She also sees a pan of candles, some large, and differently colored, the glassed ones a little more expensive, and she realizes that there has been a store here all this time.

She buys a bundle of lilies, checks if she still has enough for a fat glassed candle - she stills has, and so she buys one. 

She strides to that tombstone, the one under the tree. Places the lilies and the lights the candle on the headstone, and offers a silent prayer to whoever _Kim Chaewon_ might be.

  
  


3

  
  


Yuri’s not around when she gets home. Glancing at her watch, Minjoo figures that the younger will spend the night at Yena’s house. This is confirmed when minutes later, while she eats the express noodles she bought from the convenience store across, Yuri sends her message. She long-presses the like button, and closes her phone.

“Do you want some?” Minjoo raises her cup towards Alfie. The parrot cocks her head, her bulging eyes looking everywhere across the room as she hops back and forth on the stick inside her cage.

“No? Fine then,” She squints her eyes at the bird and says. “Just so you know, I’m still mad at you,”

Alfie, with her big round eyes — Minjoo thinks she looks like a frog which is quite weird since she’s a bird - stares back at her in defiance. Alfie starts to squawk and chatter broken words and noise incrohempensible to Minjoo.

“Language woman, didn’t I teach you how to talk already? Don’t think I’ve forgotten what you did in my class,” Minjoo scolds, pointing her finger. Alfie only clicks her tongue as if denying Minjoo’s allegations. 

Minjoo then gives up in trying to start a conversation with her pet and proceeds to finish her food.

  
  
  
  
  


It’s past midnight when Minjoo decides to sleep. 

Sleep comes a little late for her these days. A little harder since she started going into the cemetery. When she should be dead tired and exhausted after hours of cleaning, epitaphs and memories of her grandmother occupy her mind as she lies on her bed. The moment she feels her mind slipping away, her final thoughts are of the desolate tombstone of Kim Chaewon, and her goddamn epitaph.

  
  
  
  


Minjoo’s windows are closed, the heater in her room working perfectly fine before she slept. So why does it seem like her room suddenly became a freezer overnight?

When she tries to pull her blanket up to cover herself, she finds herself in a more chilling situation. A realization that she’s unable to move.

The room doesn’t feel so cold anymore as sweat forms on her forehead. Being able to only move her eyes, a wave of dread and panic surges within her when she sees a white blur passing across her bed. Fear paralyzes her even more. She shuts her eyes tight, frightened that if she opens them again, she’ll be met with a horrendous creature staring directly at her, and that’ll be the end of it all.

She wants to shout for Yuri, but remembers that she’s not home, and even then it would be futile, as no sound comes out from her mouth and she is left gaping like a fish. 

_“I will enter your body.”_ Minjoo hears a voice say, a little shrilly, and a cold breeze seems to hit her face, a cool presence hovering above her. She feels her heart hammering inside her chest.

She still has her eyes closed, and Minjoo manages to squeak out a few words, “Please don’t.” At least the ghost is polite, asking for her permission first.

“You may not. Sorry,” She adds, this time putting strength into her words, finally having her voice returned.

It is silent for a moment and Minjoo tries again to move her arms. Realizing that she finally has full control over her body, she raises her arms, and frantically waves them off in front of her. 

“Stop that,” The thin voice says again, this time sounding a little annoyed. 

Minjoo braves herself to open an eye, to come face to face with some monstrous creature with red eyes, and sharp teeth, but what she sees is — “Wow.”

  
  


Those who say ghosts look scary and gruesome probably haven't seen a real ghost before - this one to be exact. Or maybe she’s not a ghost. Maybe she’s a fairy. Seriously, She’s so, “You’re pretty,” Minjoo dumbly utters.

  
  


The pretty ghost is hovering above her, raven-blue — that's almost black — hair falling onto Minjoo’s face — it’s so trippy, the strands just passing through her and it feels like cold icicles poking her — her eyes sharp as she stares intently at Minjoo. She looks pale, and devoid of any color; overall bluish-white in appearance, like Casper. At least the movies got that one part right, that ghosts indeed look like floating masses of white. 

Minjoo gulps, a ghost indeed, not a fairy. 

Her throat is dry and she wants so badly to drink water but to do that, she would need to stand up. But she couldn’t just sit up since the ghost is still hovering above her. Though Minjoo knows that she’ll just pass right through the ghost, she can never be sure, and besides, she doesn't want to disrespect the ghost by passing right through her. _Did she even make any sense?_

“You,” The ghost drawls, her eyes forming into black slits, and maybe Minjoo should be scared again, heck for what she knows, that ghost will eat her soul and steal her body, — but she was always weak for pretty faces and she feels that’s quite not the case.

“Why did you do that?”

“Do what?” Minjoo gulps. She has done a lot of things, most of which are of dumb decisions, and dear _cow,_ she doesn't even remember all of them and now it's coming back to bite her on the face.

  
  
  


“Put flowers and candles on my grave,” The ghost answers.

“Oh.” 

It dawns on Minjoo, who this woman is. Hours of spending, trying to recreate her in Minjoo's mind with only two words on a grave left behind to be remembered, only that no one even visited her in her resting place.

Until Minjoo.

“You’re Chaewon.”

Minjoo remembers the cursive letters grimly engraved on the headstone, and the name feels so alive, each syllable rolling with a familiar grace on her tongue. 

Something in the ghost’s eyes softens, like she never expected to hear that word again, let alone someone call her using her name. And the way Minjoo says it, like she knew Chaewon and they were just friends who haven’t seen each other for a long time; she speaks of her name like she recognizes her, and is glad to meet her.

Minjoo isn’t quite sure if she saw Chaewon literally _ripple,_ and when she blinks, the ghost is back to normal again _(nothing about this is normal),_ pale and smokey. 

“It’s been so long since someone called my name,” Chaewon says, melancholy dripping in the echoes of her voice. 

She catches herself and regards Minjoo with her jet black eyes again, (Minjoo doesn’t know but an unsettling feeling rests in her stomach every time she catches those eyes, _Like it’s not right.)_ “You still haven’t answered my question.”

“Well, uh, because there’s nothing on it? Come on, you can just say thank you,” Where she got the bravery to talk so casually to a ghost, _Minjoo has no idea._

“And, please don’t steal my body.”

  
  
  


_Here’s another thing the movies got wrong:_

Ghosts can smile - in movies, when ghosts smile, it means that something bad is gonna happen to the protagonists; it is evil, sinister-looking, and downright terrifying. 

_But horror movies never show this:_

Chaewon cracks a smile. She’s all pale and bluish, but Minjoo’s heart warms up and the slight arch of the corners of her lips makes Minjoo wonder how it could be so beautiful, without colors and all ( _and how it could be more, with colors and all)_

The ghost whispers a small, “Thank you,” before disappearing into thin air. 

  
  


4

  
  


Minjoo is quite certain that it was all a dream. _It must be._

She wakes up all groggy, cursing how time seems to fold into itself on weekends. It’s Sunday. And on Sundays, students despair. 

As she stretches her limbs, she accidentally yanks her curtain, and the buttery glow of sunlight assaults her eyes. _Yep, totally a dream._

After making her bed, she trudges out of her room and is surprised to see the food already prepared on the table.

Alfie is already chowing down her own food, barely paying Minjoo any attention. 

“So nice of you to come home,” Minjoo jokes when Yuri comes out of the kitchen, transferring pancakes on the plate. She yawns, then wipes her watery eyes with her sleeves as she gets the plate from Yuri.

“Yah, this is why I made you pancakes,” Yuri shoots back. She’s wearing her round glasses and her hair is fixed into a bun. 

Minjoo places her hands on her chest and pretends to be hurt, “Why do you all think that I can be bought with food?”

Yuri laughs humorlessly and sits down across Minjoo. She reaches for the bottle of syrup as she says, “Because you are.”

Minjoo hisses and steals the bottle from her grasp. “Fair point.” She presses on it, making circles and lines on her pancake, allowing the butter to melt before passing the bottle to Yuri.

“And I know you get sad without me here.” Yuri adds, teasing Minjoo. 

Unlike Minjoo, she tightly squeezes the bottle, creating a large puddle of syrup on her plate, then she slices her pancake, dipping it onto the syrup. 

Minjoo looks at her with pure judgment in her eyes.

“No way, I’m having the best time of my life with Alfie here~” Minjoo denies. She takes a bite of the food, and says, still chewing, “Right Alfie?”

Alfie doesn’t even bother looking up from her bowl of food. Yuri laughs and hums a mockery of, “Yeah right~”

“Yeah right~” Alfie finally mimics Yuri and the girl bursts out laughing even more.

Minjoo angrily stuffs her pancakes into her mouth. “I hate you both,” She says, cheeks all puffed up.

  
  
  


“Minjoo-yah~” Yuri calls her from the kitchen. The loud gush of water and clanking of plates and utensils meshing with her voice. “Wanna come with me and Yena today? We’re watching a movie.”

Minjoo rests her head on the table, absentmindedly scrolling through her phone as she replies with complete lack of interest, “What movie?”

“I don’t know yet. But Yena says it’s the new horror movie that came out last week, ” Yuri answers.She finishes drying the last plate and then goes to wipe her hand dry with a towel. 

Minjoo abruptly stops her scrolling, a slight chill running down her spine. After last night's dream, it's _probably not the best time to watch some horror movies._ “Nah, I’ll pass.”

“You sure?” Yuri asks. 

“Oh please, I can already see how it would end. Both of you won’t even finish the movie, and you’ll just end up screaming and hugging each other.” Yuri throws the towel at her and Minjoo laughs, adding, “I also have assignments.”

“Ah, the ever so responsible student Ms. Kim Minjoo,” Yuri chirps.”Seriously, loosen up a bit Joo.”

“Go away.” Minjoo grunts, and returns her attention on her phone, not bothering to remove the towel hanging on her back.

Yuri’s laughter goes smaller as she retreats back into her room.

  
  
  
  
  


Minjoo is agonizing over integrals and numbers when she hears Alfie squawk in the living room. She takes it as a sign to yet _again_ have another study break, toddling out of her room to check on the bird. 

Alfie seems restless, jumping around the cage, clicking her tongue, her head snapping in every direction.

“What’s wrong Alfie?” Minjoo walks over her cage and asks. Alfie continues to frantically move and create noise, her cage slightly shaking with all the action. 

“She seems troubled,” 

A voice says from behind her and Minjoo jumps out of surprise, her elbow accidentally hitting the edge of a table, sending her down on the floor.

“Ouch!” Minjoo sits up and caresses her elbow. “Yuri! I thought you were— “ She snaps her head towards the source of voice and, “GHOS—Chaewon?”

“You scared me!” Minjoo shouts, still on the floor.

Chaewon’s eyebrows perk up. “Well, duh, that’s what ghosts do.”

She’s floating above Minjoo, and if last night Minjoo only noticed her face, now she sees how much of a ghost Chaewon really is. Like a stereotypical ghost, Chaewon wears a white tunic that covers almost her entire body _(ghosts are probably required to have this attire)_ , her hair is extremely black, it looks almost a little blue, and most of all, _she’s floating,_ like the feet not touching the floor type of floating.

“I’m quite surprised,” Chaewon says _(Shouldn’t Minjoo be the one surprised between the two of them?)_

She then sits crossed-legged on the air, her pale hands on her equally pale legs. “How is it possible that you can still see me? Do you have a sixth sense?”

“Hmm, but you didn’t seem spooked off when you were at the cemetery.” Chaewon continues, mumbling more to herself.

Minjoo closes her eyes. She takes a deep breath and thinks, _I must be so stressed that I’m starting to see things._ She exhales. _I mean, Math can really make you hallucinate sometimes._

“What are you doing?” Minjoo hears Chaewon say.

“Trying to get in touch with reality,” Minjoo replies, still closing her eyes and taking deep calculated breaths.

Chaewon waits and turns toward Alfie who has gone all silent, standing at the corner of the cage. She waves her hand, but the bird only cocks her head, eyes everywhere except hers.

Minjoo opens her eyes only to see Chaewon still in front of her. Her hands fly up into her head and mumbles. _I must be going insane._ “Oh god, _Oh god,_ are you really a ghost? Like a real ghost? Or am I going insane?”

“I’m real. As real as a ghost can be.” Chaewon deadpans. 

As if to prove a point, she lurches towards Minjoo — Poor Minjoo almost gets a heart attack, when Chaewon passes right through her.

“Oh my god,” Minjoo utters dazedly. 

Chaewon floats back in front of her. She looks a little pissed, her tongue clicking. “Can you stop calling for _god_ my presence?”

“Oh yes, yes, How insensitive of me, sorry,” Minjoo apologizes. _None of these is real. None!_

Chaewon puffs her cheeks and huffs, crossing her arms. For a ghost, she seems a little haughty, Minjoo notes. “It’s not like that.” She says.

Minjoo tilts her head in askance. “It’s not like I’m scared of God or to some divine being. Rather I’m pissed at them.” 

_Again, this can’t be real._

She furiously runs her fingers through her hair and continues, “The other ghosts I see don't even last a month here on the living world before they all go disappearing like bubbles. I suppose someone gets them and leads them to heaven or hell or someplace for ghosts.” She lets out a frustrated breath — which for Minjoo feels like a cold burst of air — and throws her hands into the air. “But me? It’s been ages and I’m still here! I can’t believe they didn’t send anyone for me. All my fellow ghosts friends are gone, and the others come and go and I’m so bored out of my wits. I’m already dead so _what on Earth_ am I still here on Earth for?!”

_Oooookay._

Minjoo is so lost and confused right now. Perplexed at the fact that ghosts are real, and how she’s listening to a fuming ghost’s rants. Still stupefied, she continues to gape at the Chaewon.

  
  


“And _no one_ even visits me…” Chaewon follows in a whisper. 

A pull in Minjoo’s stomach makes itself known and in which she recognizes as sympathy. She studies Chaewon and notices that she appears a little bluer than usual. _That must probably be because of her mood._

She clears her throat and tries to think of something to say. “So, are you haunting me, Chaewon?”

Chaewon makes a snorting sound, as she begins to zip to and fro in the air. “No. I’m just...just,” She looks away and moves around faster. “I’m just passing by.”

“Oh.” Minjoo follows her movements with her eye. _That looks fun,_ “Okay.”

  
  
  


5

  
  


“So! Chaewon-ssi, is it true that ghosts can possess human beings?”

Minjoo sits opposite to the chair, her arms resting on the top rail as she holds a pen and a notepad in her hands. Homework long forgotten, more interested in her friendly ghost visitor.

Chaewon frolics around her room, gawking at her display of Keroppi Hasunoue plushies and bedsheet. “Hmm, It happens when a ghost gets too vengeful and the human they’re haunting has a loose mental hold.” She pauses, then mischievously looks at Minjoo. “I haven’t really tried doing that yet though. I wonder~”

Minjoo snaps her head towards her and Chaewon giggles at her reaction. 

She clears her throat and continues to ask. Chaewon doesn’t even seem to be bothered by her incessant questioning, rather, the ghost gives the impression of someone having fun as she indulges Minjoo’s queries and occasionally finds herself ranting about her _ghost_ _struggles_ to Minjoo. They’ve been at it for thirty minutes and Minjoo has already scribbled a whole page of notes on her pad.

Debunking the ghost movies 101:

  * Ghosts aren’t necessarily hostile. This one is a little friendly( _Although a little haughty. P.S. Still cute.)_
  * She’s really pretty. Ghosts don’t look scary AT ALL (need to see more ghosts to be sure :<)
  * Cute, cute, cute iDC, she’s looking at my keroppi's <3



“If I spray some holy water at you will you disintegrate?” 

“No, as I said, everything passes right through me.”

“Do all ghosts look like you?”

“Yeah, contrary to popular belief, we do not look like bloody murderers with black or whatever color in our eyes. I guess, the only scary part about us, is that we’re dead.”

“And is it required for ghosts to wear white all the time?”

“I honestly don't know either.”

“Can you still eat? Drink water? How about you know… doing your, uh, personal business?”

“No, No, and NO! Ugh, I’m starting to regret this already.”

“Hmm, I still have so many questions.” Minjoo murmurs, scratching her head with her pen. Like how does she sleep if she can only suspend in the air? Do they even sleep? Chaewon sits on her bed, not on the covers per se — sitting on the bed ghost style, would be more accurate.

“Why is it that I can see you?” She asks, and her eyes widen at a sudden thought. “Wait, Do I have some sort of third eye? Oh gosh, do I start seeing ghosts everywhere I go now?” 

She drops her pen and pad, and brings her hands to cover her forehead. 

“What if they realize I can see them and make me their errand girl… Are you- are you here to make me your errand girl? Gee, I suppose I can help you deliver a message to your loved ones but I can’t do that for everybody...”

Minjoo rambles as her thoughts go into a tangent. Chaewon only looks at her like she’s silly and a mushroom is growing on her head. “No, nerd. You’ve watched too many horror movies and most of what they show aren’t really accurate! Plus, third-eyes being on the forehead isn’t really correct. It’s just a misleading representation of an abstract idea of having a sixth sense to see and sense souls.”

Minjoo shakes her head, her hands still on her forehead, “How do you know?!”

Chaewon squeezes her eyes tight and she brings her fingers to massage her temples. “I’m a ghost!”

She shouts. “You’re giving me a headache and mind you, I don’t feel any physical sensation anymore ever since I became a ghost.”

Minjoo smiles sheepishly and says, hand forming a peace sign, “Sorry hehe.”

Chaewon’s index finger flies and points outside the window. “Can you see her?”

Minjoo's eyes follow her finger and try to see something unusual outside. Save for the trees, the stores that lined up across the road, and occasionally passerbys, Minjoo doesn’t see anything “ghostly”

“I don’t see anyone… Wait, there’s someone outside my window?”

“See? I’m also just as confused as to why you can only see me.” Chaewon says, not answering her question.

_Cows, has there always been a ghost outside her window?_

“But, I guess It’s because I showed myself to you last night. Ghosts can make themselves visible to people who are in the middle of sleep and wakefulness.” She continues. “And I apologize for freaking you out. It’s part of the process, so that I can show myself to you.”

“Oh,” Minjoo is puzzled as to why her face, all of a sudden, feels warm. “Why would you want me to see you?”

Chaewon doesn’t answer her question again and shrugs instead, finding the corner of Minjoo’s room more inviting to look at.

“Animals can sense us by default, that’s probably why your bird was frantic earlier. I was trying to play with her.” Chaewon pouts.

At that, Minjoo stiffens. How many ghosts has Alfie seen? Thank God the bird doesn’t tell her that. Minjoo looks around and slowly leans toward Chaewon as she speaks in a hushed tone, “So, uh, are there any other ghosts here inside my house?”

Chaewon gives her an impish grin. “ _Oh, there’s none at all. But,_ you should’ve seen yourself while cleaning at the cemetery.” She wiggles her eyebrows, her ghostly face full of mischief. “Oh boy, you were surrounded with ghosts everywhere, I can’t even make out your body in the sea of white.”

If it is even more possible, Minjoo’s eyes widen, her mouth hangs low as she imagines herself cleaning in the cemetery, oblivious to the souls of dead people around her. Oh god, she hopes they didn’t get mad if ever she accidentally stepped on their headstones, or passed through them. In her defense, SHE DIDN’T SEE.

A bout of laughter erupts from Chaewon, her white body rolling on the air while she clutches on her stomach. If Minjoo thought that this day couldn’t get any weirder, she’s gravely wrong, as now, we see a ghost laughing her ass off at a poor and innocent human. Maybe instead of going around, haunting and possessing people, maybe stranded ghosts —Like Chaewon — spend their time watching the living, judging and laughing at them as they make dumb and silly decisions during their every day lives. Maybe that’s what they do.

Still, a soft and pleasant feeling settles in Minjoo’s stomach, at the — strange, but nevertheless, adorable — sight of Chaewon laughing, her face filled with unbridled amusement. Last night and hours ago, Chaewon seemed reserved and closed off, but now, despite getting the heebies jeebies at her new found knowledge of ghosts being everywhere, Minjoo just feels lighthearted, more than pleased, at making the ghost smile.

Debunking the ghost movies 101:

    * Ghosts aren’t necessarily hostile. This one is a little friendly( _Although a little haughty. P.S. Still cute.)_
    * She’s really pretty. Ghosts don’t look scary AT ALL (need to see more ghosts to be sure :<)
    * Cute, cute, cute iDK, she’s looking at my keroppi's <3



  * _Third eyes’ are really not in the forehead :o_



    * Alfie doesn’t tell me about the ghosts she sees :( Hope she doesn’t get that scared.
    * There’s a ghost outside my window T3T



  * **I’m glad I can’t see ghosts. But I’m glad to see Chaewon.**



  
  
  
  
  
  


“Minjoo?” A knock on the door, followed by Yuri’s muffled voice disturbs Minjoo and Chaewon. She’s about to tell Chaewon to hide when she realizes how silly it is. The girl doesn’t even need to do that anymore. 

“Yes?” Minjoo answers and she sees the knob of her door turn as Yuri comes in. Chaewon stays floating on her bed, blowing air into her cheeks.

“Are you talking to someone?” Yuri asks. She clutches a bag of donuts on both her arms and the smell makes Minjoo’s stomach grumble, realizing how hungry she actually is. She has forgotten to eat lunch, too occupied with Chaewon, and well, Chaewon doesn’t seem to feel any hunger at all. When she said she doesn’t feel any more physical human sensation, that includes hunger.

The idea makes Minjoo a little sad. She turns to Yuri and puts on an awkward smile. “No! Are you!?” She dumbly spits out of panic.

Yuri regards her as if she’s drunk, or high, or both. Crossing her eyebrows, she says, “I heard you talking to someone when I came in.”

“Oh! I was just talking to Alfie!” At the corner of her eyes, Minjoo sees Chaewon shaking her head, her palm on her face. 

Now, Yuri stares at her as if she’s insane or mental, like a pink and blue-striped mushroom sprouted out of her head. “Yah Kim Minjoo, Alfie’s in the living room, sleeping.”

Minjoo purses her lips, trying to think how to worm her way out. She can’t just tell Yuri about Chaewon. Well, can she? 

She steals a glance at Chaewon and the ghosts seem to know what she’s thinking and smugs as if saying, _Go try it, for sure she’ll think you’re crazy._ Minjoo tries to ask Chaewon for help with her eyes and to Yuri, she probably looks like an idiot squinting her eyes at a wall.

“What are you looking at?” Yuri also turns her head in the direction Minjoo is looking, and sees the abhorrent green of Minjoo’s frog-patterned bed sheet and her unhealthy amount of Keroppi plushies.

Minjoo claps her head. “What’s that?” She points at the box of donuts, pretending that she doesn’t know those are donuts, and beams, “Oh! Let’s eat, let’s eat!” She pushes Yuri on her shoulders and follows along, peeking behind one last time to poke out her tongue to Chaewon before she kicks and closes the door.

  
  


6

  
  


Chaewon pops up every other time, and thankfully, Yuri’s not around most of the time.

Minjoo still can’t quite believe it and sometimes she thinks that maybe Chaewon is just a made up imaginary friend in her mind. Though Chaewon never fails to assure her that she’s real, as real as a ghost could be.

Today, Chaewon comes when Minjoo is in the midst of dying from the endless cycle of procrastination and self-imposed backlogs. She has a paper due tomorrow and being the great responsible student that she is, starts the night before the deadline.

She lets Chaewon do what she wants. Nothing really much happens when the ghost comes by, sometimes Chaewon just hangs around, suspended in the air, doing nothing, and Minjoo lets her be. Other times, they talk, Minjoo asks questions, mostly superficial ones, just about how her ghost life works and sometimes about the weather.

Yeaaah, she’s quite really _good_ at this _talking_ thing. 

They still haven’t really ventured into the unknown territory of Chaewon’s past. All the ghost told her was that she doesn’t remember anything, and the drop in her tone and subtle change in color, telling Minjoo that she’d rather not talk about it. 

Though it intrigues Minjoo, she’s sensible enough and respects Chaewon’s space. It worries her however, as there are days when Chaewon seems a little closed off, and she really doesn’t know what’s her deal.

Still, Minjoo finds herself waiting for Chaewon to come, her day incomplete when she doesn’t get to talk and banter with the ghost, lacking when she doesn’t see a white figure drifting around the room. She even starts to pick up signals and signs that indicate Chaewon’s presence: her room turning cool despite her turned on heater, and really, Minjoo just feels it when Chaewon is near. 

It’s quite comforting, having Chaewon’s company, even if they don’t talk. 

She wonders how Chaewon eases herself into her life so easily.

Chaewon lingers behind her and peeks at the papers on her table arranged in a frenzied manner. “Why do you keep throwing papers at me,”

Minjoo pauses from her writing, and snaps her head, “But they can’t hit you.”

“It’s annoying though,” Chaewon hisses. “What is that you’re doing that got you so worked up anyways?”

Touching the middle of her brows, Minjoo sighs. “Just some paper, I need to pass it by tomorrow,”

“I’m so glad I’m not a student anymore,” Chaewon half-jokes. She continues to scan the papers, her head above Minjoo’s shoulders. “Oh, I know about that!” Then she pauses and frowns. “Huh, why do I know about that?”

“You forget most of your past memories but remember some Shakespearean story?” Minjoo asks in a tone part teasing and part amused. _Ghosts are so complicated._

“You must have been a very good student.”

“And if you think life is already confusing, try being a ghost.” Chaewon sighs. “Anyway, I think I can help you with that.”

  
  


On Monday, Minjoo pasess a paper about Shakespearean tragedies, ghost-written in an extremely literal sense.

  
  
  


7

  
  


Minjoo arrives at her house and sees Yuri’s post-it note on the refrigerator saying she won’t be home till midnight and that there’s already food on the table. She drops her bag on the floor, and walks back to the living room.

Then, there’s Chaewon in front of Alfie and she’s not really surprised anymore. The two have gotten closer in the span of weeks, Alfie responding to Chaewon’s waves and greetings. 

“Hi,” She greets as she walks by to heat food in the microwave. “What’s up?”

“Me.” Chaewon soullessly says, which is ironic considering she’s a soul herself, and watches the bowl spins inside the microwave. 

Minjoo tilts her head at her. One of the many things she learned about the ghost is that she can be quite moody sometimes too. 

The microwave signals that the food is ready and Minjoo takes it out, relishing in the warmth and the smell. Chaewon’s line of sight continues to follow the smoking food as Minjoo sets it on the table.

And then Minjoo realizes, and she dumbly offers, “Do you want some?”

Chaewon gives her a glare. Still it didn’t quite mask the downcast look on her face as she stares at the food with pure longing.

Minjoo purses her lips, feeling bad all of a sudden. How silly of her to notice it so late until now. When Yuri and her ate donuts, Chaewon followed them around, her gaze on the donuts yearning. “You don’t get hungry anymore right?”

Chaewon glumly nods.“I don’t. But I miss it you know. Eating, sleeping, doing things, human things,” She says it with a voice so small, eyes mournful, and Minjoo so badly wants to give her a hug. 

Except, it’s also not possible and Minjoo doesn’t know what to make of the slight pang in her ches.

She finds it really unfair. Chaewon is still stuck here, seeing things she used to do when she was alive, as if her being here — just a mere spectator of what she had been once part of — is a big everyday slap on her face.

Then, an idea comes up. A silly one most likely, but Minjoo is more concerned about cheering up her favorite ghost friend. “Chae,” Minjoo stands up and she almost bites her tongue at the sudden use of a nickname.

Chaewon looks up at her.

“Come with me!” Minjoo instinctively grabbed her hand, only to pass through and ended up like she was clutching the air. She smiles apologetically at Chaewon and signals her to follow her.

She hastily grabs her cardigan and walks out the house, Chaewon, though confused, easily drifting by her side. 

  
  
  


The moon and stars are already out, up in the night sky trying to outshine each other. Minjoo's skin pales, bathed in a blue hue. She revels in this, because under the night sky, she gets to look just as ghostly as Chaewon.

It's ironic, Chaewon _almost_ looks alive when it's dark, her ghostly projection appearing normal, as if she’s just a normal girl casually walking along the grey-stoned pavement.

“Where are we going?” Chaewon asks. It’s already late and though she really doesn’t care about it most of the time, it’s not quite safe for Minjoo to be out in the dark especially that she’s technically alone

“Shh, just wait and see.” Minjoo excitedly hums, skipping and turning around like an excited kid.

“Yah, watch where you're going! And don’t walk in the middle of the road.” Chaewon scolds, but eventually fails to hold her laugh when Minjoo starts doing some silly dance moves. She’s glad no one’s passing by them or else Minjoo would’ve already been admitted to the mental hospital.

Not like Minjoo cares anyway. 

Eventually Minjoo proceeds to walk like a normal human being, a little winded but glad to have made Chaewon laugh.

She stops, notices her unhitched shoelace, and kneels to fix it. When she looks up, she sees Chaewon waiting for her under the incandescent glow of the streetlight, and Minjoo is trying to figure the delayed reaction of her heart. 

_She’s not dancing and jumping around anymore, so why does she feel breathless all of a sudden?_

“Hurry up!” Chaewon calls, turns her back on Minjoo and starts walking floating away.

Minjoo stands up, hides her hands in the pockets of her cardigan, then crosses her arms to wrap the fabric tighter around her body. It's weird. She should regret not wearing a thicker coat, but the cold breeze that hits her body feels okay, welcome even. Minjoo thinks it's got something to do with Chaewon, the wafting presence beside her always bringing a sense of coldness wherever she goes. Maybe she got used to it (to her) and she may like the coldness (her) more than she realizes.

“Wait up! You have some other appointments after this Chae?” She teases, catches up beside her.

Chaewon throws her a glare, and Minjoo’s laughter fills the cold night. 

On the gray-colored pavement, a single shadow walks, but who’s to say she’s alone?

  
  
  
  


“So, just point at anything you want and I’ll get it for you!” Minjoo says cheerfully, her hands proudly on her waist.

Chaewon crosses her arms and gives her an incredulous look, torn between asking her _what’s the point_ and _are you joking with me,_ but Minjoo just smiles even further, her face beaming as if her idea — which Chaewon didn’t expect to be...a convenience store…? - is the solution to the existence of aliens. 

Still, it’s that same proud, smiling, ridiculously beautiful face that makes Chaewon yield. 

She starts streaming between the isles, there’s really nothing much to choose from, most are instant noodles, packed breads and chips, but Chaewon peers at them with much interest, letting herself be nostalgic as she tries to remember how these things once tasted. But alas! There’s none. She couldn’t even remember her memories, what more of how these foods taste? 

Minjoo follows behind her, grabbing something from time to time. When her arms are barely enough to carry the things, she whispers for Chaewon to wait for her and sprints to get a basket. 

Chaewon is relieved for the lack of people inside the store. Just the cashier, the guard, and Minjoo and her, though not really including herself per se, but still, she’s glad, or else Minjoo would have probably looked like a mental, talking to herself. Though Minjoo doesn’t seem to care, just giving her an encouraging and patient smile everytime she looks at her.

She eventually gives in and eases herself into pretending, imagining that she can actually eat the products displayed on the isles. She passes by a stall of bungeoppang, pauses and turns to Minjoo who promptly gets some of it. “Oh! Do you like these? I love these too~” She singsongs, and grabs two pieces. Is the other one supposed to be hers?

“I don’t know, they just seem appetizing,” Chaewon murmurs. Out of all food here, why did she want these fish-cakes so badly?

“Maybe you ate lots of bungeoppang before,” Minjoo says, nodding. “Or maybe you’re a pro bungeoppang maker that’s why it seems like these fish-shaped snacks are speaking to you.”

Chaewon snorts. Trust in Minjoo to always lighten things up. “Yeah, I think so too. I may have won many bungeoppang making contests and we just don’t know it.”

They both burst into fits of laughter as they continue to walk along.

After Minjoo spends an unhealthy amount of time debating with herself which chocolate snack to get — she would have placed all of them in the cart if Chaewon didn’t stop her - they passed by the fridges and chillers. Then, something catches Chaewon’s attention again, and Minjoo thinks she saw Chaewon’s eyes sparkle, the ripple she believes that she had only imagined before coming again, distorting Chaewon’s smoky appearance. She follows the ghost’s line of sight and catches her staring at a tub of mint chocolate ice cream.

Minjoo gulps, prays for Chaewon’s fingers not to point at the green tub, afterall, she’ll be the one eating and how could she eat _those?_ So when Chaewon’s hand flies and enthusiastically points at it, Minjoo tries to cover up a grimace and unwillingly extends her hand to reach for the ice cream. “This?” She asks to make sure.

Chaewon eagerly nods her head, and well, it’s not like she’s able to refuse, not when Chaewon looks so happy, and something inside her chest starts buzzing again.

  
  


_Maybe she’ll make sense of it all someday._

  
  
  
  


“Hmm…hmmmmmm,”

Minjoo hums as she chews a large bite of bungeoppang, trying to focus on its taste. It’s funny really, she realizes that she had never really paid attention to the things she eats, like knowing the taste and deeming it delicious or not is already second nature to her. How she automatically knows that this food is supposed to taste sweet, that one, sour, and being able to distinguish her favorites from the ones she doesn't like.

That's why she finds it hard to articulate words on how to tell Chaewon how the food tastes, a plain description of _it's delicious!_ certainly not sufficing.

“Uhh, it tastes like a fish cake…?” Minjoo spurts out, unsure. She gestures animatedly and desperately looks at Chaewon. _Cows, she needs to expand her vocabulary._

Chaewon doesn’t move, continues to stare at her, dark eyes alight with expectation. 

“It’s a little floury...like when I chew it, it takes a while, and oh! The sugar adds to its sweetness and yeah, it’s delicious!”

Chaewon nods at her enthusiastically and a sense of accomplishment fills her up. But then, Chaewon excitedly points at the tub on the table, “Try the ice cream now! The ice cream!”

Again, how could she refuse? Maybe she's really possessed.

_No! Girl up Minjoo! You can just say no. So what if some pretty, like reaaally pretty and adorable ghost, plus absolutely cute tells you to eat such abomination? You can just say_ — Minjoo sneaks a glance at Chaewon, their eyes meet for a brief second and — _YES, she'll do it in a heartbeat._

Her hand flies to cover her ear, feeling it burning up all of a sudden. Still she attempts to worm her way out. “Oh, I already know how that one tastes. It’s minty, Like...like, toothpaste!

However, Chaewon frowns and sports a confused look on her face. “Really? Then what does a toothpaste even taste like? Why would they make an ice cream like that? Come on, Miiin, I'm sure that's not it. Taste it for me pleeeaaseee?

And _cows,_ it's already a _game over_ for Minjoo.

She slowly opens the tub of mint choco ice cream, and for a whole minute, stares at it as if staring at it would melt it, hoping Superman's laser beams would come out of her eyes and she will finally not need to eat it. She takes her spoon, scoops a small part, and reluctantly puts it in her mouth.

Eyes closed, eyebrows slowly meeting into a frown,, she tries to take in the taste of the ice cream. The taste of the strong, icy mint flavor and the sweetness of the chocolate clash with each and Minjoo’s face contorts. Nevertheless, she gives it another chance and takes another spoonful of mintchoco. 

Then another. And _wow_ , it really grows on you.

She snaps her eyes wide. Turns to Chaewon who’s grinning proudly at her. “You’re right! It’s really not just toothpaste! It’s… it’s mint?!” 

Chaewon raises her arms and simpers, “How would I know? But see I told you~!” She starts dancing in the air, waving and rolling her arms as she darts side to side like a balloon rapidly losing its air. 

“My ghost instincts are the best. Wow, I must have had a very fine taste when I was alive.” 

“Right, right, you surely are the best.” Minju cajoles, pleased to see Chaewon finally in high spirits. Literally and figuratively.

They spend the whole night talking, Minjoo trying out all the food and snacks they bought, Chaewon listening intently as she tells her how it tastes. 

  
  
  


Minjoo, lying flat on her sofa, her hands on her full stomach, exclaims, “Woo! I’m stuffed. Let’s do this again next time!

She grins at Chaewon who’s hovering beside her, and there it is again, although fleeting and goes as fast as it came, Minjoo still catches it: A subtle ripple in Chaewon’s projection.

Chaewon returns her smile, though wistful, and replies, “Yes, let’s get them next time.”

  
  


The next day, Minjoo suffers a mild stomach ache while at school and she ends up skipping a class to go to the infirmary. Luckily, it was Math she missed, and either way, it was all still worth it.

  
  
  


8

Minjoo spends her free time inside their school’s computer lab. She looks up sites, reddit posts, and horror blogs.

She types:

How to take care of ghosts?

A couple of links pop, most are troll posts, and articles about ghost sightings, even scary ghost pictures. She scoffs at how wrong they are. Then she finds something.

By the last ring of the school bell, she’s on her way buying bungeoppang on the nearest stall, a tub of mintcho on the nearby store (Though she pauses midway at the latter, but then grabs it anyway).

  
  


9

  
  


Yuri wakes up to a _rain_. Droplets of cold water hitting her face. Why is she sleeping under the rain? 

_Why...How is it raining inside her room?_

Fully awake, Yuri realizes that the water falling on her is in fact from the sprinklers in their house. But then, dread and terror fills her up: _Why would the sprinklers turn on? Unless there’s_ … she sprints out of her room and sees smoke coming from the kitchen. 

She blinks, and then _shit! Is our house burning?_

If before, her eyes were bleary from sleep, now they’re all teary from the thick haze of smoke circulating in the kitchen. She immediately runs through the foyer and is relieved to see nothing burned, but her panic, the kind of _“shit, our house is burning”_ panic, turns to the kind of _“i think my best friend and roommate is trying to summon a demon”_ panic.

There she sees Minjoo, all drenched, squatting in front of a pot, thinking deeply as she pokes the burnt contents of the pot with a stick.

Yuri gawks at her, mouth agape. _Just what in the world is happening to her best friend?_

To say that Minjoo has been acting weird would be an understatement. Yuri assumes it’s because she hasn’t been staying home with her that they haven’t caught up much about each other but Minjoo had never acted like this before. First she starts talking with herself, - Minjoo reasons that she’s just talking to Alfie but the animal can hardly say more than two syllables, and speaking of the poor bird, she sees Alfie at the living room, flapping her wings as the water from the sprinklers hits her cage. 

Then — and most surprising of all — Minjoo starts eating mint chocolate. She saw a half-eaten tub inside the refrigerator once and she knows that her bestfriends completely abhors that flavor. And now, this…

“Kim Minjoo,” Yuri starts and Minjoo snaps her head towards her, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. “Mind explaining to me what’s happening here.”

Minjoo offers her a forced smile, and slowly laughs.

“I’m sorry, I forgot we had sprinklers inside the house and yeah well… when I made a fire and burned the bread and ice cream, I didn’t expect for the smoke to get so big….”

“ _Why_ …” Yuri takes a deep breath. “Why are you burning bread _and an ice cream tub_ in the first place?!”

Minjoo scratches her wet hair and avoids her eyes. “Well...we have this science… science experiment!” She says, dragging out her words. “Yes! Sublimation. Solid to gas!”

Squinting her eyes, Yuri is about to probe further. Minjoo never looks at her when she lies. But Minjoo is quick to stand, turns her back on her and says, “Well! Guess I gotta clean this all up!”

Yuri wishes it’s that easy. In the end, she helps Minjoo and they spend the whole day cleaning up, trying to salvage the things that didn’t get wet, drying their things, the furniture, and oh god, rest in peace to their television and toaster. 

_Gods, help her and her friend._

  
  
  
  


“Minjoo, look!” 

Minjoo is washing the dishes when Chaewon calls her, almost shouting, her ghostly projection hurtling towards her. She instinctively steps back, briefly terrified of the ghost crashing into her. Chaewon stops in front of her, though she keeps moving, jumping around, her blanched face ironically beaming with something akin to joy. Minjoo spots something on Chaewon’s arms and before Chaewon could talk, she shouts in delight, arms raised in victory. 

“Yes! It worked!”

Chaewon’s eyebrows meet, but her expression remains joyful, definitely thrilled at the food impossibly and gingerly cradled by her arms. She fires a barrage of questions, voice high and excited. “What do you mean? Is this because of you? How is this possible?”

Minjoo enthusiastically nods at her, an equally exuberant glint in her eyes as she explains, “Yes! I can’t believe it really worked. Now you have ghost foods!”

She can’t believe it! Cleaning the house the whole day was worth it. “See, I searched some websites online and I stumbled upon some blog, — I thought it was a troll post at first! Anyway they said that you can give food to ghosts by burning the food as an offering, or placing it on their headstone. I know burning is quite dangerous, cows, the sprinklers even got turned on accidentally but I was a little reluctant with the second option because what if dogs or stray cats get it? So I…”

Minjoo continues to ramble, her fingers rubbing her chin and Chaewon just smiles foolishly at her.

“I just settled with burning the foods, but I was still skeptical because how do I burn an ice cream? It just melted by the end and there had been a little accident, ” She gestures around the house and Chaewon, out of her excitement, notices the wet state of the house just now. “I really thought it wouldn’t work! Yuri even gave me an earful for starting a fire inside but ah! It was all worth-” 

Minjoo is cut off when a blur of white jumps in front of her and a cold feeling suddenly passes right through her. 

“Ugh, I hate this,” Chawon grumbles as she floats back in front of Minjoo again. She picks up the bungeoppang and mintcho tub that surprisingly just hung suspended in the air when Chaewon released them to jump on Minjoo. 

_Ghost foods, really! So, ghosts themselves aren’t bound by physical laws, i.e. laws of physics, that ground living beings. Surprisingly things that are offered to ghosts, and thus, become their properties, also get liberated from such laws._ Minjoo mentally notes.

Chaewon continues to fuss about something and Minjoo makes out a few such as : “Ugh, why must I pass through everything,” and “I probably looked like an idiot,” 

Minjoo tilts her head, lost at what the ghost is throwing tantrums about. She also doesn’t understand why Chaewon suddenly passed right through her minutes ago. 

“Why would you pass through me like that?”

The huffing ghosts snaps her head towards her and glares at Minjoo as if her question riled up Chaewon even more, “I…!” 

Minjoo leans towards her, encouraging Chaewon to continue. “You?” Before, she would have been terrified at her glares and angry looks, but spending time with her made Minjoo realize that Chaewon wouldn’t even hurt a fly — also because she literally can’t, but that’s not the point — and Chaewon being all huffy and grumpy is all part of the girl’s charm, and Minjoo actually finds it cute. She would be pinching Chaewon’s cheeks by now, if only she can touch her. “What were you trying to do Chae?”

Still leaning towards her, Minjoo’s face is curious and Chaewon hates how innocent it is, how innocent Minjoo is. She looks away and mutters under her breath, “I was trying to hug you, you -” Then she shouts, “You fool!” 

Fortunately, Minjoo heard both really well, and she leans back, acutely aware of how close her face to Chaewon is, and turns away as well. Both of them seemingly interested at the newly washed walls of the house. Minjoo covers her face with the back of her hand, certain that she’s all gone tomato red, then clears her throat. 

“Well, I would have liked that.”

  
  
  
  


Minjoo’s notebook

DO NOT OPEN AT ALL COSTS. Bad curses inside >:(

If lost, please return to Kim Minjoo/09XXXXXXX1

  
  


Debunking the ghost movies 101:

    * Ghosts aren’t necessarily hostile. This one is a little friendly( _Although a little haughty. P.S. Still cute.)_
    * She’s really pretty. Ghosts don’t look scary AT ALL (need to see more ghosts to be sure :<)
    * Cute, cute, cute iDK, she’s looking at my keroppi's <3
  * _Third eyes’ are really not in the forehead :o_



    * Alfie doesn’t tell me about the ghosts she sees :( Hope she doesn’t get that scared.
    * There’s a ghost outside my window T3T


  * **I’m glad I can’t see ghosts. But I’m glad to see Chaewon.**



  * She’s so cute when she’s mad T3T Chae, I’m sorry but I just love teasing you
  * Friday nights are for movie nights and horror movie bashing sessions~ (I just know she loved the horror movie we watched last night. Me, I loved watching her laugh every time a ghost appeared. Jumpscare who?



I still can’t figure out why my heart just goes _whoosh_ everytime I see her.

_Chaewon, chaewon, what are you doing to me?_

  
  
  


10

Cloudy days are the perfect time of the day to go out, take a walk, or basically just do anything. In Minjoo’s case, visit the cemetery.

She tightens her grip on the basket handle, savors the burst of brisk wind hitting her face. The air is crisp, reminding Minjoo of the impending winter season.

She stares up, thankful for the clouds covering the sun, not too sunny but not necessarily rainy. The sun is too intense, while the night is gloomy, too dark for her liking, and gets too cold sometimes. She has always wished for clouds to stay just a little bit longer, for this part of the day to be the longest, not just some transitory intermediate when day shifts to night. 

The weather calls to mind the figure wafting beside her. In a sense, both are similar, Chaewon’s coldness doesn’t hurt, in fact it’s something Minjoo wants to revel in. Comforting and fleeting.

They arrive at the cemetery with only a few words exchanged. It’s not like it matters, Minjoo and Chaewon both seemingly having a silent agreement, their company already enough for each other.

It’s the first time for Minjoo to come here, with someone in mind to visit, the previous times were for her community service. It’s also the first time she goes to the cemetery with Chaewon, her last visit changing everything for the both of them. She’s glad to have made that decision of putting flowers and light candles on her grave.

She walks towards the guard post to look for the caretaker, and the older woman seems to light up in recognition. A smile grows on her face when she sees Minjoo. She still has that chipped tooth, cryptic sunken eyes as if there’s a hidden meaning to her looks and a double meaning to her words. Chaewon remains silent beside her, but the way the older woman greeted her is like she knew that Minjoo isn’t alone.

“Oh, you’re not alone this time?”

Before Minjoo could answer, the old woman already waves her off and proceeds to fix the arrangement of flowers on the stall. “Go on, the place is already all clean thanks to your service last time.”

  
  


They walk away and stroll to where Chaewon’s tombstone is located, the one under the giant sycamore tree. Minjoo failed to notice before but the particular area was quite elevated among the rest. Standing there, she gets a nice view of the cemetery stretching out into the trees and fences that border the lot.

“What was that? Is she able to see you?” Minjoo asks, throwing a side glance at Chaewon. She can still feel the old woman’s gaze on her back while they were walking away.

Chaewon shrugs, clearly unbothered. “I don’t know, maybe she has some sixth sense or something.”

Minjoo takes the wilted flowers and candle away, replaces them with a new set she stored in the basket. She brushes off the fallen leaves and places them on Chaewon’s tombstone.

“Let’s visit here every week, we need to keep your tombstone clean and I’ll change the candles and flowers every now and then.” Minjoo nonchalantly says as she cleans.

Chaewon is just standing beside her, touched at the sincerity of Minjoo’s action and words. “You should really watch your words.” She quietly says.

Minjoo looks up at her, asks, “What do you mean?”

“Nothing, I said, I’ll hold you on that.” Shaking her head, Chaewon floats close beside her.

Then, Minjoo places the blanket on the grass, pats and then sits down on it, proceeding to unpack the contents of the basket. “Now, let’s see if this’ll work.” 

They exchange a look of determination as Minjoo places some food on Chaewon’s headstone. She claps her hand, closing her eyes as she offers a silent prayer. _Dear God, please give these to Chaewon._

And like magic, though the food remains still, untouched on the stone, a hazy projection of it pops out on Chaewon’s hand. The pair squeal in delight and high-fives, then laugh as their hands simply pass through each other.

“I still can’t believe it. What kind of sorcery is this?” Chaewon says, scrutinizing the food in her hands.

“Right now, I’ll just believe that anything is possible. If you tell me aliens are gonna invade Earth tomorrow, I’ll totally believe it.” Minjoo leans back, resting her back on the tree. The trunk is so wide that there’s still space for another body to lean on. Chaewon fills it, her white figure stark against the dark brown tree bark.

“But do they still taste the same though?

Chaewon shrugs and starts to take a bite of the snack, “Beats me, I forgot how they’re supposed to taste like to begin with. But like you said, I think they’re delicious.”

“So you do feel full after eating?”

“Heck if I know. I don’t feel anything at all. I’m just glad I got something to chew.”

Minjoo turns her head to face chaewon, expression nonplussed, hands wildly gesturing in the air. “It’s so complicated!” Not knowing the hows, or mechanisms of certain things always make her restless, frustrated even. And to think that she’s been so restless these past few days because of...

“It’s simple if you don’t think about it.” Chaewon fondly says, she raises her hands, affectionately knocking Minjoo’s forehead. Though as per usual, Minjoo only feels a cold sensation. These days as well, she doesn’t know what to make of labelling the colds she feels, and knowing for sure which one is Chaewon’s.

Her mouth settles into a pout, and Chaewon’s gaze momentarily flickers downward. 

“That’s a very nice tip for school.” Minjoo says, oblivious. 

“Yeah, do that and you’ll be a high schooler forever.” Chaewon swifty brings her attention back to Minjoo’s eyes and nonchalantly teases her. 

Minjoo exaggeratedly places her hand on her chest, face parts insulted and humiliated. “Hey excuse you! I’m a junior already, next year, I’ll be a senior and then college!”

“I did say high schooler right.” Chaewon deadpans. Did she think Chaewon called her a middle schooler?

Minjoo’s face is a little red, the woman flustered for some reason Chaewon can’t point out. “Min?”

Minjoo looks away, refusing to look at Chaewon. _Cows, what has gotten her so worked up?”_

“N-nothing. It’s just, I’m not that young you know?” Minjoo mutters. She picks on the grass around her, throwing them around.

“You must have misheard me.” Chaewon laughs.

“And what’s wrong with being young? Don’t look too forward into the future, and enjoy what you are now. Loosen up Min, you only get to live once. And that’s something, coming from me.” 

_That’s not why…_ Minjoo shakes her head then turns back to Chaewon. “You’re literally just a year older than me.”

“Oops,” Chaewon waves her finger and playfully waggles her eyebrows. All the actions, Minjoo finds so endearing. “I’m dead, remember? So technically, I’m what… 17?” She pauses, blinking. 

“Yeah, 17. I’ll always be like this...”

Chaewon talks about it so lightly that Minjoo almost misses the way her lively voice drops near the end, her white figure slightly turning into a shade of blue, eyes going out of focus and gaze drifting out into the clouded horizon.

The pair go silent, and there’s a random heaviness that makes its way to Minjoo’s chest. Because they can play all they want, throw jokes and face problems with humor, but reality always catches up, and they’re the ones hoodwinked in the end.

“Chae, do you really not remember how you died? Anything about your past?” Minjoo breaks the silence. She slowly asks, mindful of how sensitive the topic to Chaewon is. 

Chaewon nods, a grim look on her face. “Yeah, I just woke up — if that’s even the right term for someone like me — and I’m here, standing there,” She points to her tombstone. “”All I know is my name, that I’m dead because people can’t see me, they just pass right through me, and I…I don’t know Min, _I was just so lost.”_

Hugging herself, she continues. “I just stayed here, waited for someone to come and visit. Someone to tell me what happened to me. Surely someone would come right? Like how I see with other ghosts around here, they have someone, a family, regularly visiting them, crying for them. I thought to myself, there must be someone out there who knows me. I must have a family too right? So I just waited.” 

Chaewon sits there, head hanging low, looking so blue and dejected, feelings of sadness and envy in her voice, so raw they resonated within Minjoo. “I tried looking, roamed around this town to see someone I might know… but I didn’t want to go that far away from my grave in hopes that someone might finally come. For years, no one came-” Her voice breaks, lets out a dry laugh when she hears that, “I can’t even cry.”

Minjoo didn’t need to see her tears to know her pain. She wanted to scream, be angry at how unfair everything was for Chaewon. She wanted to cry for her, but when Chaewon raises her head, meets Minjoo’s teary eyes, and flashes her a smile of genuine happiness, Minjoo briefly forgets how to breathe. 

“For years, no one came. _Until you_.” There’s a look of pure appreciation and affection on Chaewon’s dark-toned eyes. 

“Until you came Min, you found me.”

  
  


There are moments when Minjoo just gives up trying to solve a problem, stops trying to fry her brain to figure it out, and leaves them unsolved. Then, like a random rainstorm during dry sunny days, like the many times you go to sleep at night, and a ghost wakes you up on one particular night, the answer suddenly comes to her without her looking for it. _A eureka!_ Her grandmother’s words to her, ghosts, Chaewon, the flutterings in her stomach, and the knot in her heart, she still hasn’t figured them out. She has left them in the back of her mind. 

But when a gust of cold wind hits both of them, fallen autumn leaves pass through Chaewon, Minjoo closes her eyes, and the answer hits her just as hard as the sand getting into her eyes. Her mind, and heart finally aligned. 

_It’s actually so simple._ What she had left for her mind to figure out, her heart easily solves, the knot unwinding itself, and makes everything so simple.

Minjoo looks at Chaewon as if she hadn’t seen her before. The slight indents at each corner of her mouth that becomes conspicuous everytime she smiles, sharp expressive eyes that light up every time she talks about something, and _indeed, perhaps she had not really seen her before._

  
  


“At first I was just watching you clean, I never thought you’d put flowers and candles on my grave, So thought you knew who I was, that’s why I came to you that night. But the look in your eyes said otherwise.” 

For a fleeting moment, enough to stop a second from passing by, Minjoo takes in [the realization of] her own feelings. Then she restarts, organizes herself and promptly nods to Chaewon,

“I’ve asked you before, and I’ll ask you again. Why did you do that?”

Minjoo shrugs. Her reason remains the same. “It looked so lonely, you’re tombstone I mean, all dusty and covered in mud, no flowers or candles at all, and I guess, I didn’t want to leave it like that. I mean, no one deserves to have such a grave.It's just...just sad. It made me sad.”

Chaewon lips part, then closes, as if she’s contemplating what to say. Then, with an unsure voice, she confesses her fear, that one that’s been eating her up all this time.

“But what if I deserve it?” Her face turns pained. “What if the reason no one visits me is because I’m a bad person?”

Minjoo pauses, shifts so that she’s near, her face blocking Chaewon’s view of the setting sun, and her face, all calm and reassuring is all Chaewon sees.

“I can’t say what kind of person you were when you were still alive. I didn’t know you then.” She offers her a small smile. “But the Chaewon I know now, she's my friend. She’s kind, and friendly for a ghost. Though she gets sulky, a little moody, sometimes a little overly excited about food, and looks so cute whenever you tease her. Actually, she just looks so cute everytime and you just want to squish her.”

The soft laugh that comes out of Chaewon; Minjoo takes it as a win.

“The Chaewon I am with now, she’s kind and she’s someone _dear_ to me.” 

  
  
  


11

  
  


With the end of term approaching, the past weeks have been a time crunch. Now on the last day of the semester, Minjoo finds herself running around campus, a large cardboard with planetary orbits and styrofoams on top, on her arms as she dashes to the Math department. By the end of it, Ms. Park shaking her head, fingers pointing at her watch, five minutes saved for the deadline.

Then, Minjoo, again, finds herself walking home, shoulders slumped, exhausted and desperate for sleep.

She had been running on autopilot, rushing to meet deadlines after deadlines, studying for exams after exams, 'till she passes out, and wakes up, high on coffee and instant noodles for breakfast, lunch — though sometimes she forgets about lunch - and dinner. She might as well turn into a human pasta soon.

She hasn't seen Chaewon that much (She sort of missed her), and on times she comes by, she would talk and play with Alfie, letting Minjoo suffer through the torment of her own studies. Minjoo was glad for that, though she thinks that her pet, and her ghost friend have become much closer than each other. Still, despite Minjoo adapting instant noodles as a form of diet — a common mode of nutrition of most dying students — she never fails to burn some food for Chaewon, the ghost’s favorites snacks — Chaewon said it’s a waste to burn home-cooked food since she really doesn’t need to eat to begin with — she rushed to buy at the convenience store. 

By the time she reaches home, she can barely open her eyes. She doesn’t turn on the lights, doesn’t change out of her uniform, trudges into her room, drops her bag and falls onto the bed, face flat. She turns her head, eyes closed as she drowsily calls, “Chae? You there?”

When no response comes, Minjoo falls asleep to _a brush of cold_ caressing her face.

  
  
  


Loud footsteps and indistinct voices drags Minjoo away from her greatly deserved rest. She stirs from her bed, blindly reaching for pillows to cover her ears from the noise. To no avail, the sounds and footsteps only grow larger, eventually manifesting as loud knocks on her door and to Jo Yuri’s, “Yah, Kim Minjoo!”

Minjoo grunts, refusing to get her well deserved and long awaited sleep to get interrupted — Though it’s already been interrupted and now she's simply being petty as sleep-deprived people have the right to do so especially when they’re disturbed. 

“Go away!” Her shout is muffled by the pillow on her face.

Though of course, Yuri, as expected from her, does exactly the exact opposite of going away and shouts back, “Did you not see my texts? Yena and Nako are here too, they’re waiting for us. I’ll give you ten minutes!”

_A girl just can’t get her sleep, can’t she?_

Groaning, Minjoo blindly grasps for her phone, misplaced somewhere on the bed, her bleary eyes assaulted by the blue light when she turns the gadget on. She reads Yuri’s message and lets out a tired sigh. She sits up, wipes the fuzziness in her eyes and the grogginess away, and drags herself to turn the lights on.

“It looks like you won’t be getting your well-deserved sleep anytime soon.”

Minjoo turns, and if before she would have jumped out of surprise, the voice is so familiar now that Minjoo breaks out into a smile, her vision becoming clearer, when she sees Chaewon standing — floating, rather, — in front of her door, all ghostly and white. The pale apparition returns her smile, a gentle look on her face.

“Congrats for surviving your semester,” Chaewon says.

Oftentimes, when Minjoo was still drowning in heaps of schoolworks and papers, Chaewon would try helping out. But it seems like her ghost brain is limited to Shakespeare and paranormal knowledge and she couldn’t really do anything about the numbers, letters, and letter numbers that’s been the number one source of Minjoo’s distress. And her presence seemed to distract Minjoo, not like Minjoo would ever think or say that, and that’s exactly the case. So Chaewon tried to limit the amount of times she visits, opting to stay and sit under the tree near her grave, or wander around like the lost soul she was - Being with Minjoo, made Chaewon forget how lost she was (still is, though for some reason, she thinks it’s _a little less_ now), and when Minjoo was suddenly occupied with her responsibilities, Chaewon found it hard to regress into her old routine, if doing nothing the whole day could be called one. The thought made Chaewon scared, for who? But she couldn’t really stay away, not when Minjoo religiously sends her food even when the girl herself has been living off on noodles, so on the few times she comes, she hangs around with Alfie, the bird oddly becoming a nice companion for Chaewon, and checks on Minjoo.

It starts with Minjoo on her chair, round glasses accessory on her focused eyes, and Chaewon _mentally notes_ :

  1. Her nose wrinkles, and she starts scratching the side of her eyebrow when the problem is hard.
  2. She slaps herself on her face when she loses focus and feels sleepy.
  3. She looks so adorable with her glasses on.
  4. Her desk is so messy and she throws her paper around.
  5. Sometimes, her head falls back and forth and she ends up banging herself onto the table 



It ends with Minjoo, head onto the table, round glasses askew, defeated with her war against exhaustion, and _Chaewon ignores:_

  1. How her cold heart warms up at the sight.
  2. The slight adoration bubbling within her, especially when Minjoo wears her glasses, and how she puts her heart into everything she does
  3. The frustration she feels when her hand passes through Minjoo’s head, and she ends up hitting her forehead on the hard wood.
  4. How her fist clenches when Minjoo falls asleep, head on the table, and she can’t even grab a blanket to cover her tired body.
  5. Sometimes, there’s an ache in her that stems from wanting to hold Minjoo, and knowing that she can’t.



  
  


Minjoo’s smile blossoms into a grin, proud and triumphant. It’s weird, her drowsiness all gone now. Minjoo wanted to ask where she’s been and what she’s been doing for the past days, but she starts with,

“It’s finally our break now, do you want to go somewhere? I’ll burn you food.”

Chaewon laughs at her invitation. The usual catchphrase of “I’ll buy you food,” slightly and fittingly changed to “I’ll burn you food.” It was so earnest, _so Minjoo._

Minjoo continues to look at her expectantly, and Chaewon finally says, “Sure.”

  
  


For a moment, they stay like that, smiling at each other like dumb fools, when the door flies open, hitting then passing through Chaewon.

  
  
  


“OUR PRECIOUS MINGMING!”

Yena’s loud voice booms throughout the room as she walks and unknowingly passes through Chaewon. She saunters over Minjoo’s bed and plops herself on the soft cushion. “Who were you talking to?” She asks.

Minjoo recovers, and she drags Yena up, resisting, she throws her pillows at her, “No one! Hey, get off my bed.”

The older girl continues to tease her and Minjoo knows it’s better to give up, so she throws one last pillow at her, adding extra force onto it. She steals a glance at Chaewon who looks a little flustered and annoyed. Well, Minjoo can’t blame her, the ghost was subsequently hit by her door and then by Yena. Chaewon told her once that as convenient as being able to pass through everything, it’s as equally annoying and Chaewon isn’t really fond of passing through large objects and concrete walls, opting to use doors instead.

_“Minjoo, don’t ask me why, it just feels annoying. “ Chaewon said back then, rolling her eyes. “Imagine you’re air, and you’re being scattered by something massive. That kind of thing.”_

“Yena, apologize now!” Minjoo demands.

Yena pouts her already pouty lips, “Geez, It’s really true when they said that you shouldn’t mess with sleepy people.” She gets up and raises her hand. “Fine, okay, okay, I’m sorry, please forgive me, our pretty Mingming.”

Minjoo holds back a laugh and she notices that Chaewon does too. Apparently, even ghosts aren’t immune to Yena’s wacky personality. But Minjoo says, “Not to me!”

This time, Yena frowns, looking at her incredulously. “Uhh, who then?”

Minjoo swiftly grabs one of her keroppi plushie and shoves them into Yena’s face. “To this one! You.. You squished her when you jumped onto my bed. God, can you imagine how that must feel?” 

Yena looks at her as if she’s insane. _Yeah, she's been getting a lot of that lately. But does she care? Not exactly._ Crazy, Yena’s usually the one getting crazy looks most of the time. She shakes the toy, raising her brows to urge Yena. At the corner, Chaewon erupts in fits of laughter and Minjoo is just so glad she gets to hear that.

“Fine fine, I’m sorry, Minjoo’s keroppi plushie. I won’t squish you again.” Yena shakes her head. She continues to ramble even as she walks out the door — Chaewon has already moved at the side. “Yuri’s right, you’ve gone insane Kim Minjoo. I told you, too much studying can make you crazy. Now let’s go! Maybe you just need to loosen up.”

Minjoo gives her a stink eye as she says, “You’re already crazy and you don’t even study! Wait for me, I’ll get changed first.”

  
  
  
  


Put her friends together in one room, and the place would never see daylight again. _Okay,_ that’s a tad bit exaggerated, but the point is, if you’re someone who needs some quiet, Minjoo suggests to find somewhere else that’s at least a hundred meters away from them.

Minjoo loves them for that anyway, and she’s having one of those moments where you feel like you’re having the time of your life - after this, it either ends up in Minjoo’s series of regrettable life choices, or her chronicles of _“Whew, that’s actually not so bad, I actually had fun!”_ The latter having fewer episodes than the former. 

Loud cheers strike Minjoo’s ear in all directions, the lights as sporadic, it glows and turns erratic, as the adrenaline-high [also alcohol-high] people under them. Minjoo laughs, and the sound she hears instead is the loud beat of the music booming from the giant speakers, so loud she feels the linoleum she’s standing on vibrate with the rhythm. 

Yena and Chaeyeon are in the middle, doing some dance battle, and Yuri pushes her, grin mirroring Minjoo’s and they join the two, whooping at how Yena competes with Chaeyeon’s flawless dancing, her own unorthodox way of dancing as equally impressive, if not, then certainly funny. From their side, a group of seniors tramples through them, lost in their own game of chase. 

As a result, Yena falls on Chaeyeon, then Yuri, and by the end of it, all of them are tangled with each other, mirthfully laughing on the floor, like convoluted kids. The other people in the bar start to stare at them, and they giggle even more at that. Nako shouts at them from the table, something like not destroying the whole club; Nako’s the unfortunate host for tonight’s end of sem party. Minjoo is just glad her place with Yuri wasn’t chosen or else she could just imagine the massive headache that would come after: from all the drinking and the cleaning.

Minjoo composes herself, her head spinning from the high, and when she turns to look at Nako, her gaze hyper focuses instead at the figure beside her.

Minjoo grins at her, not like Hye’s gonna mind or even notice. They’re in a bar, different things are happening at the same time, making it hard to focus on one thing, and they’re supposed to act like idiots, surely, smiling at no one in particular — at least for those who can’t see Chaewon — is one way to act like it.

When Yuri and company dragged her here, Minjoo already expected for the whole school to be here. But what she certainly didn’t expect was for Chaewon to follow them, unable to ask the ghost the reason why since her friends have already been around. She settles with the occasional side glance she throws at her,, looks that silently asks her if she’s okay or if she’s having fun - which Minjoo isn’t quite sure of since Chaewon has just been hovering (sitting?) on their table, eyes attentively roaming around the place, the people around, reminding Minjoo of a little kid. Chaewon often meets her gaze, and she nods in affirmation, a contented look on her face.

Chaewon is everything but a pale white ghost tonight. The laser lights, shifting colors of red, blue, green, and maybe violet too, bounce back from the large disco ball at the center top, hitting and bathing Chaewon’s white projection into a combination of colors. 

Minjoo walks towards her.

“Tired Joo?” Nako asks when she draws near. She offers Minjoo her drink, which she happily accepts, feeling thirsty from all the jumping and dancing. She chugs, only to almost immediately, her throat stinging, and Nako’s cackles bursting out. Chaewon is laughing as well, and Minjoo blames the drink (and Nako) for the sudden heat on her face.

“Nako, I thought this was water!” Minjoo whines when she’s done choking like a goldfish. She sits down near Chaewon and grabs the pitcher to fill her glass with wate— it’s actually orange juice and Minjoo settles with it.

“Well, what do you expect Joo, water’s not the common beverage in this place,” Nako teases. Beside her, Chaewon joins the teasing by enthusiastically nodding her head.

Minjoo huffs and watches their friends, still dancing like wild animals on the dance floor, some people already starting to join and cheer for them.

“Why are you sitting here all by yourself?” Minjoo asks her.

Nako sips her drink, shaking her head as she replies, “I need to watch over you guys. I’ll be screwed if this place burns down to ashes.”

Minjoo just laughs. That’s actually not impossible. After a while, the dancing trio join Nako and Minjoo, catching up as they eat and drink. Yena talking about her (mis)adventures in the IT department, Yuri grumbling about how their professor required them to do a jazz piece, and how she absolutely sucks at those types of music.

“Don’t worry Yul, your voice is the prettiest I’ve ever heard. I’m sure you’ll pass!” Yena immediately assures, clinging onto Yuri’s arm.

It’s nice. Catching up and having fun with her friends. The past days she’s been busy, shoulders heavy, and it’s just now as she sits with them, laughing around and teasing each other, that she’s able to loosen up. She glances towards Chaewon and sees her smiling, also listening to her friends’ stories. For some reason, it warms Minjoo’s heart.

“What about our Mingming here?” Yena insinuates, her tone mischievous. 

“What about me?” Minjoo asks, taking sips for her glass. This has got to be one of the best orange juice she’s tasted in her whole life, the pitcher almost empty just from her.

“Are you seeing someone?” Yena asks, her eyebrows annoyingly going up and down.

Minjoo squints her eyes. Is it just her, or is Yena - _Oh!_ Even the others as well, they’re all looking blurry to Minjoo. _That’s weird._ Nako must really be great at throwing parties. These special effects are so realistic. _Amazinnggg_

She scratches her eyelids and answers, humming in affirmation.

Everyone at their table explodes, bombarding her with questions of how did they meet, how long, and more importantly, who the person is but Minjoo just looks at them, confused. _Why are her friends shouting? Why is the room spinning?_ She turns to Chaewon whose face is unreadable, the ghost’s apparition hazier than usual, Minjoo almost misses her. 

“What do you mean?” Minjoo tells them, her words slurred, a red flush on her face. “Can’t you see? She’s there.” Grinning, she points to Chaewon. Chaewon’s eyes are wide in surprise, horror? _Huh, funny._ And her friends move their head back and forth between Minjoo and the wall she’s pointing at.

  
  


“WHA— Minjoo drank almost all of the punch!” Yena shouts.. _Yena, Yena,_ she’s like ten people in one. Is there a megaphone installed inside her throat?

Minjoo frowns as she looks at her, but her eyes are already starting to drop, and she asks, “What, is this juice spiked?” Minjoo hears her own voice, and _yep, she’s drunk._

Nako mimics a shocked expression and claps her hands. “Oh yeah! That’s what I forgot to tell you earlier! But you seem to love it very much, so I thought you knew.”

“ _Cows_ , I hate you.” Minjoo mumbles, and they all laugh together.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Please for the love of god, don’t put all your weight onto me!” It’s so hard to look for your keys when a body clearly bigger than yours is snuggling into you like you’re the softest pillow she’s ever had. “Aish Kim Minjoo, how could you not know that that punch wasn’t spiked,” Yuri grumbles.

She sets Minjoo on the floor, and searches her pockets. Meanwhile, Minjoo completely lies down on the floor, all curled up as she hugs the nearest pot of plant she was able to reach.

When Yuri successfully opens the door, she turns to pick Minjoo up, but pauses midway to grab her phone and takes a picture of the drunk woman. Alright, now she finally has a trump card against Minjoo. Afterall, it’s a rare event for her best friend to get wasted, Minjoo usually the one being responsible when they go out, keeping an eye on her and their friends, and not the other way around. Yuri is glad though, Minjoo’s always been so uptight, and it was nice seeing her loosening up tonight, that’s why Yuri made sure to drink less and be the one to look out for her this time.

She taps Minjoo’s shoulder, and coos. “Minjoo-yah, come on, you’ll get sick lying on the floor like that. Let's take you to bed.” 

  
  


But Minjoo only gives her a hum, and hugs the pot tighter. Yuri sighs, should she just drag Minjoo’s feet inside? Listening to her conscience, she wraps Minjoo’s arm around hers, her hand circling the drunk girl’s waist, as she tries to pull her up. 

_Just wait Kim Minjoo. You’ll be cracking your head as soon as you wake up._ Yuri tells to console her shaking knees. With more complaining than actual working, and a lot of struggling, Yuri gets Minjoo inside her room when Minjoo starts laughing like a mad woman.

“Aish, so you’re still awake?!” Yuri shouts in disbelief. Minjoo just continues laughing, untangling herself from Yuri as she wobbles on her feet, making her way on her bed.

“Go to sleep!” Yuri says one last time before closing the door.

  
  


Sitting on her bed, Minjoo bends down and struggles to remove her shoes. She sees a pair of feet hanging in front of her and she looks up to see Chaewon, a little extra blurry tonight, but Minjoo is sure that it’s Chaewon.

She grins at the ghost who’s looking at her, unimpressed, her arms on her chest.

“Min—” Chaewon was about to chide Minjoo about the dangers of alcohol, and mistaking fruit punches as a harmless orange juice when Minjoo stands up, face all excited, and shouts, “Chaewon!”

Her arms are wide open as she jumps and hugs Chaewon — or attempts to, and simply passes through Chaewon’s body. To make it worse, Minjoo trips on herself and falls face flat onto the floor, a loud bang resounding within the whole room.

Chaewon’s eyes widen, her goal to reprimand Minjoo now lost as she regards Minjoo’s unmoving body on the floor. “Minjoo?”

No movement. “Minjoo?” She pokes Minjoo but her finger just keeps passing through.

Then Minjoo jolts. Shakingly, she slowly moves, and curls up on her knees, her arms and forehead on the floor. 

Chaewon tries to peek at her face, obscured by her dark hair. 

_Sniffs._

Chaewon’s eyebrows furrow when she hears sounds of sniffing. She leans further towards Minjoo to check if she heard her right, but abruptly veers back when Minjoo starts banging her fist on her ground.

“Min-Minjoo, what’s wrong?” Chaewons asks, voice laced in concern. _Is this what happens when Minjoo gets drunk?_ Not knowing what to do, Chaewon glances at the door, praying for Yuri to come and calm Minjoo down, but it seems like Yuri has immediately fallen asleep. Chaewon can’t blame her.

Minjoo sits up, tears falling from her eyes, face alarmingly red, as she sniffs, looking like a little kid whose candy got stolen. Did her fall really _hurt_ that much? _Probably_ , Since she’s practically bawling right now.

Chaewon tries to get her attention by floating in front of her, drifting around in every direction, Minjoo’s head diligently following her around. It seems to work. Minjoo stops crying left with teary eyes, occasional sobbing and sniffing. 

Once she gets Minjoo to calm down, she wafts toward her and softly asks, “Min, what’s wrong?”

Minjoo bows her head, clearly upset. Quietly, she answers _“I want to hug you…”_

She shakes her head, wipes her tears with the sleeves of her sweater and continues, “It’s so _unfair_. I want to touch you, hold your hand, hug… yes hug you.”

She looks up, and Chaewon sees tears starting to fall from her eyes again. “ _Chae, why can’t I?_ ” She asks with a pained expression, voice leaking with frustration.

Chaewon is taken aback at Minjoo’s honesty. Although she knows that the younger is simply drunk, still, watching Minjoo pour out her frustration, baring her heart out, puts an ache in Chaewon’s chest. Her heart? _Does she still have that?_ She’s lost her physical sense ever since becoming a ghost, a soul without a body, but is that all she lost?

She looks at Minjoo again, her tear-stained face so ridiculously beautiful even when crying, and Chaewon is sure of one thing: She didn’t lose her heart, her capability to feel emotions. If she did, then how could she explain _this?_ _These?_ The past few days and what she’s been feeling for the woman in front of her?

It frustrates Chaewon too. Being a ghost, just a charged air, a plain white apparition, not solid enough to be able to touch her or hold her hand, cover her with a blanket, catch her hugs, meet her high fives, and just _be with her._

She leans into Minjoo, meeting her forehead, and delicately tells her, “I want it too.”

They’re both silent, tears still falling into Minjoo’s droopy eyes. 

_She’s getting sleepy now that she’s calmed down._ Chaewon sighs in relief. 

  
  


The door shuts open and Yuri enters, hair disheveled, “Yah! Why are you on the floor?” She pulls Minjoo up and continues to grumble, “Aish, If I would’ve known that you’d be like this then aah! I’m never gonna let you drink again.”

She finishes removing Minjoo’s shoes, pushes her to lie down on the bed, and covers her with the blanket. “Go to sleep now.” 

Minjoo brings up the blanket to her chin and nods. “Hmm, G’night.”

  
  


Yuri leaves, and Chaewon stays.

  
  
  


12

  
  


Minjoo stirs from her drunken slumber when she feels _it_ again. A cold wind gently brushing on her face, but this time, it stays, the cold gently lingers. 

Opening her eyes, she makes out the moonlight spilling through the window, and after one, two blinks, she recognizes the familiar cold on her face as someone’s hand — _No, not someone, Chaewon._

Looking down at her, Chaewon pulls out her hand when she meets Minjoo’s eyes. The small smile that has been on her face gets replaced by a look of worry when she sees Minjoo frown. “I’m sorry, did I wake you up?”

Minjoo blinks, _one, two,_ and stares up at Chaewon. She slowly shakes her head, and says, almost in a whisper, her words meant only for Chaewon to hear, “No, can you put it back?” She tries to hold Chaewon’s hand, her palm ending up on the bed instead. “It feels nice.” She adds not tearing her gaze away from Chaewon’s eyes — black, but not really. Minjoo yearns to know what shade those two orbs really are. 

There’s a slight upturn of the corners of her pale lips, clearly understanding the implication behind Minjoo’s words. She brings her hand back on Minjoo’s cheek, hovering so slightly there’s almost no distance left. 

“It’s cold,” Minjoo comments. “But it feels really good, Really nice,” She grins and there’s a sudden pang in her chest when she beholds the glimmer in Chaewon’s eyes, and _ah, there it is again_ , the subtle ripple. 

_Minjoo’s starting to get an idea about the reason why._

“Probably because your face is still flushed. You’re still drunk, go back to sleep.” Chaewon says. 

In the silver glow illuminating Minjoo’s room, her cheeks are still shaded red. But she couldn’t care less about that, more concerned of the thumping of her own heart and how _aware_ and _conscious_ she is right now.

Aware of the girl in front of her, looking at her like… _like what?_ Minjoo doesn’t know how to put a name to it, nor does she even want to, only that she’s painfully aware of the warmth spreading within her, settling to gnaw at her stomach, her throat buzzing from words she’s always wanted to day since that cloudy day at the cemetery.

She’s conscious of Chaewon’s hand ghosting over her cheeks, and how she wishes that it’s a solid palm caressing her face, instead of the lingering cold.

_She’s aware, achingly so, of her feelings._

Minjoo shakes her head, denying, "No, I’m not drunk anymore.”

Then she sits up, her hair tousled from sleep, faces Chaewon, a diminutive distance between them.

“Show me your hand.” Minjoo whispers.

Chaewon offers her free hand, the one that’s not and still lingering on Minjoo’s cheek. She looks at Minjoo in askance.

Minjoo only brings her hand on top of Chaewon’s palm, hovering. She beams at Chaewon, and intones, “My hand’s slightly bigger than yours.”

Chaewon scoffs, though it’s cancelled out by the fondness dancing in her eyes, “It’s probably because I’m not growing anymore.”

Minjoo only hums, and continues staring at their hands.

_She’s anything but drunk. She’s a girl in love._

And the two pretend, in hushed whispers and solemn smiles, that even just for a moment, they can feel each other’s touches. 

_The longing grows._

13

  
  


Minjoo wouldn’t mind if the world burns today. Afterall, there’s an earthquake inside her head, splitting, and she wonders how waking up feels so much like dying.

Holding her head between her hands, Minjoo groans, mentally scolding herself why she drank that stupid orange juice in the first place. Lips dry, and parched throat screaming for water, she drags herself out of her room, and sees Yuri regally perched on a chair, a cup of tea in her hand, her smile turning into a smirk when she spots Minjoo.

_How can she smile like that early in the morning? How can she smile during mornings at all?_ Minjoo scowls at her and trudges towards her with heavy steps. 

She spots Alfie near the window, and wonders, _do birds ever get headaches?_

“Well, hello there. _Lovely morning_ isn’t it?” Yuri mocks and Minjoo wants to wipe that sneer off her face.

Minjoo throws a stink eye at her, groaning as she sits across Yuri and cradles her head with her arms on the table. “I feel like Bob the builder’s inside my head.” 

Yuri snorts, _clearly,_ she’s in a good mood. She pours the teapot into another cup, placing it beside Minjoo. “Here.”

“What’s this?”

“Tea.”

“Wow, thanks.”

Minjoo gingerly cups the tea, feeling the vapor hitting her face as she takes small sips. The tea seems to be working, her splitting headache easing down into a dull throb. Yuri again puts a bowl of soup across her and Minjoo’s eyes are sparkling as she says, “Wow Yul, you’re really being a nice friend to me now.”

Yuri raises her spoon and hisses, “Shut it. This isn’t free.”

Minjoo fakes hurt, laughing as she continues eating. 

“Got anything to do today?” Yuri asks, setting her own cup down. 

“Sleep,” Minjoo replies, her face covered with a bowl. She sets it down, and burps. “Whoo! That was a nice meal.”

She thinks about Yuri’s question again and _huh, what would she do today?_ It’s officially the start of their break, meaning she’s free of any academic responsibilities for two months ( _Hooray!)_. What to do, what to do. Maybe she should ask Chaewon to continue their American Horror Story marathon… 

Speaking of…Minjoo still hasn’t seen the ghost. She wonders if Chaewon ate already. She should burn her some food asap. 

Now, it’s Yuri’s turn to frown. She slumps on the table and grumbles. “Ugh, sucks to be you, I still have to pass my recording to Ms. Ha, and even after that, practice for the upcoming festival.”

Right! Minjoo almost forgets about the lights festival. Winter is nigh, and the townspeople never fail to throw some grand party and celebration before they coop up inside their homes for months. Minjoo suspects that they only voted for Mayor Choi just because he was the only candidate to propose making the festival a week-long holiday. She loves it though, especially when the red hour comes and they all turn their customized lanterns on. And of course, fireworks.

“It’s because you’re Ms. Ha’s favorite student, and you’re the best singer this town’s got.” Minjoo says. “Me? My jobless life starts today!” 

“Don’t sell yourself short Joo, you’ve got that recommendation at the uni you're applying for right?" Yuri chides, 

"Yeah, but I still have one more year, and they might change their mind if I flunk any of my senior subjects,” Minjoo makes a face, and slumps on the table. “Plus extracurriculars, _cows,_ they said I needed to add more.” 

“Nothing that you can’t do right?” 

Minjoo hums and closes her eyes. _There are things she can’t do though._

  
  


14

By nine o’clock, the peripheries go dark, lights of all kinds and color concentrated in the middle of the town, like a large bonfire in the middle of a forest.

They guide Minjoo and Chaewon, the pair walking side by side towards the brightly-lit townsquare. The people around are walking in the same direction as them, closing their stores and securing the locks of their houses as they forget tonight’s and tomorrow’s responsibilities, gifting themselves with a night of indulgence. Even from a fair distance, Minjoo could already hear the cheers and shouts of the people gathered at the square. 

Yuri went earlier than her. She needed to prepare for the contest, Yena of course, with her. Nako however… she told Minjoo she’d be setting up a stall of home made ice cream near the gate. She should come by tonight and try her luck in getting discounted ice creams. 

“We’re here.” Minjoo says, and there’s a mist of air coming out her breath. It’s odd though, she’s only wearing a thin cardigan over her white shirt but she doesn't feel any cold at all. Rather, when she looks up and sees the display of lanterns and lights lined up in a row, their radiant glow almost blinding but dazzlingly beautiful, and feels Chaewon’s wintry presence beside her, Minjoo is everything but cold. 

They stopped near the entrance and Minjoo could already see the large volume of people inside. Kids running, with balloons tied to their wrists, lightsticks on their hands, vendors talking over each other from their own stalls, families taking pictures of each other, and people walking around with their own custom-made lanterns. She failed to make one though, and reminds herself to buy one.

“Let’s go?” Chaewon calls her attention. Tonight, with all the lights illuminating from all directions, as brilliant as they may be, makes it harder for Minjoo to see Chaewon clearly. She’s _almost transparent._

The thought leaves an unpleasant feeling in her stomach, making her anxious. 

Minjoo steps closer to her. 

"Stay close to me okay? There are lots of people here.” She's painted amber by the firelight dancing on her face, and tries to stop her voice from shaking when she meaningfully follows, _"I don't want to lose you."_

Chaewon's dark eyes are fixed onto hers, the corners of her mouth rising into an unbridled smile, tenfold brighter than all of the surrounding lights combined. And Minjoo knows that she's _too far gone, neck deep,_ in these silly feelings she has for her. 

"Okay, don't lose me."

They stand close together, arms merging that Minjoo gladly feels the cold there — cold means Chaewon, and she likes Chaewon close to her — , clutching her hand to feel the phantom of Chaewon's hand against hers.

They look up to the parade of lights, lanterns of different sizes and designs hanging above the post lines, and join the bustling crowd of people inside.

Minjoo tries to avoid walking in crowded places, opting to walk on the side pavements where it’s less packed. Still, the whole place is swarmed, the people walking by, most of which are children running around, unknowingly pass through Chaewon. If Chaewon’s getting annoyed, she says nothing, a contented smile remaining on her face even when people walk by her. She stays close to Minjoo, her eyes wandering everywhere, from the stalls selling different varieties of street foods, the large stage at the center, the animal mascots dancing around, and the bright lanterns overhead.

“Minjoo!” 

She hears someone call her, and turns to see Nako waving at her. Gesturing at Chaewon to come, they make their way through the masses of bodies around them. Nako welcomes them, a pink apron wrapped around her body, written at the center is _Baskin-Nako_ , with her face edited to be on an ice cream cone.

“Nako, this is amazing!” Minjoo commends as she beholds Nako’s stall. Nako converted her bicycle into an ice cream cart, a large rectangular box as the body, painted with stripes of pastel pink and white. A wide parasol of the same color is connected at the middle, with an LED board flashing _Baskin-Nako - This town’s best ice cream ever!!!_

“Wow, did you do all this alone?”

Nako proudly beams, hands on her hips. “Of course not! I blackmailed Yujin to get me this box, and she helped me steal boxes of paint in the school’s storage gym then Boom! Baskin-Nako baby!”

“You what?”

“It’s nothing much. I caught her placing spaghetti on our Math teacher’s chair so I told her I won’t snitch if she helps me.” Nako laughs. “Are you alone? Do you want ice cream? 2 dollars for a single scoop, 3 for double. Or just promise to sit next to me during our electives and you’ll get unlimited scoops.”

Minjoo cackles at that, hands digging into her pocket. “Give me two cones Nako, double scoop of choco and the other mintchoco,” She says, handing Nako the payment, “And sure, I’ll sit with you next year. You don’t need to bribe me.”

“Will you eat all of these? I thought you hate mintcho.”She gets a strange look from Nako as she scoops the ice cream and hands them to Minjoo. 

“Yeeep and not anymore~” Minjoo says, then carefully waves her hand to bid Nako a farewell. “Gotta go Nako, see you around!”

  
  


“And how do you plan to eat all of that without the other melting first?” Chaewon asks beside her when they finally reach a good distance from Nako’s stall.

“But it’s for you?” Minjoo reasons. Though sometimes she may act like it, she’s not that much of a slob to be eating two ice creams at once, especially not with mintchoco, even though she somehow learned to accept mintchoco as an edible ice cream flavor…(Don’t tell Chaewon). 

“Oh, gee, thanks. But where would you burn that?” 

“That..I don’t know.” Minjoo smiles in embarrassment. “Ugh, it’s starting to melt!”

So they start running around looking for fire! Luckily — why haven’t they noticed it before? — there’s a bonfire near the back of the stage with people sitting on logs and warming up themselves. Minjoo sees familiar faces, some of them jamming to songs as they play the guitar. She spots Yujin, attentively talking to another girl — _wow, she’s as tall as Yujin_ , — opts not to disturb and call the younger.

Sneaking near the fire, she discreetly throws the cone onto the flames, runs away when she notices a kid pointing at her. _Cows,_ she just blatantly ignored the nearby post warning them not to throw anything into the fire. ( _Kids, don’t be like her okay?)_

“That was close!” Minjoo exclaims as she turns to Chaewon who was already laughing, the ice cream already in her hand.

Minjoo scratches her eyes with the back of her eyes and closely stares at Chaewon. _Huh, that’s weird._ For a second, she thought Chaewon wasn’t there, and fear washed over her.

“Min?” Chaewon pauses when she sees the frightened look on Minjoo’s face.

Then, Minjoo blinks, restarts, shaking her head and flashes her a smile.

  
  
  


A loud buzzing from the microphones getting checked signals them of the start of the event. They walk near the stage, the crowd rapidly growing, filling the area. 

Minjoo spots Yuri at the side of the stage, shouts a simple _‘Fighting’_ to which Yuri replies with a grimace, telling Minjoo how nervous she is. 

She brings Chaewon to the side where it’s less crowded but still near enough so that they can have a clear view of what’s happening on the platform. Though she thinks Chaewon can easily float above the rest and have the best view among them if she wants.

Cue the opening remarks and introductions, once Yuri gets called on stage, Minjoo silently claps to herself while the crowd roars and whoops. Afterall, Yuri is the town’s prized singer, getting invited to almost any events, weddings, house blessings, birthday parties… you name it all. 

Minjoo almost laughs, knowing how these loud cheers only add to Yuri’s nerves. Well, it’s not like these people know, and despite her nerves, Yuri never fails to deliver.

When Yuri starts to sing, for the first time since the night festival started, the boisterous crowd fell silent. Yuri hits the notes with easy precision, the words rolling out of her mouth like a fairy casting her fairy magic, as her melodic voice bewitches everyone who hears, not allowing them to pay attention to other things except her. 

Minjoo glances at Chaewon. She couldn’t quite make out the emotions on her face. There’s amazement, like the rest, in awe of Yuri’s singing, but Chaewon’s eyes glint with nostalgia, a hint of longing and wistfulness. 

Yuri finishes her song, and the crowd roars in applause. Even when Yuri had bowed and exited the stage, Chaewon’s eyes are still glued at the stage, contemplative and pensive. She moves her hand to meet the smoke of Chaewon’s hand and the ghost snaps, facing to look at her in question. “Hmm?”

“You okay?” Minjoo asks in concern.

Chaewon nods and slightly smiles, “Ah, your friend was really good. I was just moved.”

Minjoo doesn’t seem convinced by her answer. The way Chaewon looked earlier, it was like she was remembering a part of her life, and greatly missing and longing to experience it again.

“I bet you have a great voice too,” Minjoo changes the topic. She throws her arms and sighs as if pondering. “How come I haven’t heard you sing yet?”

“What makes you think that?” Chaewon raises her eyebrows at her.

She rubs her chin, humming. Minjoo flashes her a cheeky smile. She winks and makes a camera with her fingers, framing Chaewon’s face with it. She probably looks like an idiot, thankfully, the crowd would never bat an eye at her, more focused at the man juggling bananas on the stage. “I just think so, you look like one. A singer.”

Chaewon’s laughter rings in her ears. And _Sorry Yul, but this one might be the best sound she’s ever heard tonight_ — _ever._

Chaewon scrunches her face in thought. Minjoo might be right. When she saw Yuri singing at the stage, a pang of longing and familiarity striked her, as if she too had been in that same spot, a crowd cheering for her, looking at her in admiration and wonder. 

_“Silly.”_ Chaewon shrugs it off. “I don’t even know any song.”

But Minjoo doesn’t want to let it go, and her eyes widen in surprise at Chaewon’s response. “Wait, for real?”

“Well, duh,” Chaewon says as if it’s obvious. Afterall, ghosts have no memories of their past lives. Especially ghosts like her, left with only a name, a grave no one ever visits. Until Minjoo. _It’s always until Minjoo._

“Although sometimes I hear songs blasted in stores or places I pass by that’s familiar. Just familiar, and I think, Oh, I must have heard, maybe even liked, this song when I was still alive.”

Minjoo pounds her fist on her hand, nodding like a student finally understanding a complicated lesson. Then she gives Chaewon a grin, face beaming brighter than the lanterns floating above them, or the spotlights directed at the stage performers. _It’s always until Minjoo._

“Then we’ll listen to aaaall songs, until we find the ones you like.”

They continue walking around, Minjoo buying food from stall after stall - Chaewon already told her she’s okay with the ice cream and so Minjoo indulges the cravings of her stomach. She runs to a vendor selling lanterns, points at a particular one, and hands the lady her money. 

When she comes back to Chaewon, there’s a triumphant grin plastered on her face as she shows the lantern to Chaewon. “Look, It looks like you~!”

It was a simple one, the covering sewn and cut to resemble a ghost’s body, round black patches embroidered on the white cover, looking like eyes and mouth. Nevertheless, Chaewon’s heart softens at the design, and at the sight of Minjoo proudly showing it to her. 

She was just an aimless ghost, wandering around, waiting to finally pass on, _until Minjoo._ _  
  
_

“We’ll also go around town, try all kinds of food ‘till we find your favorites. I’m sure bungeoppang and mintchoco aren’t the only ones you love.”

She cradles the unlit ghost-lantern in her arms, careful not to get it crumpled and collide with the large lanterns of the people around them.

Waiting under that giant sycamore tree, envious of how other graves are filled with flowers, company of those left behind, praying and lighting candles for them while dust and mud pile up on her grave instead, overgrown weeds covering her stone, _until Minjoo._

“Ah, What about your favorite movies? We should watch tons of ‘em. Not horror movies this time!”

She’s dead, her body already six feet under, probably all bones and decay. Yet she’s still here, feeling more alive than ever, a fire growing inside her. Chaewon looks at the source of it. _Minjoo._

“Min.”

“Yes?” Bright eyes attentively look at her.

_“Thank you.”_

Minjoo laughs, shaking her hand in front of her. “No problemo. You’re lucky I love—” A running child carrying a massive spiderman-shaped lantern crashes into her, and Minjoo shuts her eyes at the sudden brightness.

She opens her eyes, following the child to see if he’s okay. Without looking at Chaewon, she quietly whispers, “I love spending time with you.”

Minjoo feels the tips of her ears go read. She almost slipped and said those words to Chaewon. _Phew._

She turns to her companion, and—

"Chaewon?"

  
  


A patch of cold wind on her lips was the last thing Minjoo felt.

  
  


15

  
  


Dawn starts to break when Minjoo goes home. 

  
  


The sun rises from the east, some begins to wake, though most of them decide to sleep in, still tired and exhausted from last night’s bliss. 

Last night. Last night was a _nightmare_ for Minjoo. 

Chaewon disappeared.

  
  


She searched everywhere. Scanning for a white figure floating among the bustling people, in the convenience store where they buy her favorite bread and ice cream, in the streets where they often take a walk together. But none.

No ghost, no Chaewon was seen on sight.

  
  


Minjoo waited and sat near her lone tombstone under the large sycamore tree. The cemetery was empty, even the new caretaker took a day off to enjoy the festival. It was silent, so silent that Minjoo could still hear the chanting and festive cheering of the townspeople.

It seemed to fill the whole town, and showed a completely different world from where she had been earlier, lights blinding her wherever she looked, straining her ears to hear clearly; to where she was sitting now, dark, the light from her phone her only companion, and silent, she didn’t need to strain her ears to hear the whistling of the insects and the falling of the leaves.

_When the clock struck twelve_ , it was finally the most awaited red hour. Fireworks exploded in the sky, floating lanterns forming a mirage of light that reminded Minjoo of Northern lights, except it’s a ray of orange, red, maybe yellow. They would have looked beautiful to Minjoo, if Chaewon was on her side.

She hoped Chaewon saw them.

_When the clock struck two_ , Minjoo fought for a little more spark of hope. It was daunting, a black slug of dread making its home in the pit of her stomach.

She read the words written on Chaewon’s headstone over and over again. The name she finally has an image of, the dates — like the word of a sentence and the inevitable period. _Dot_ . Then the stupid epitaph she never got to ask Chaewon about, the stupid epitaph that served as her faucet of hope, of _just a little bit more,_ slamming into her head, engraving theirselves on her brain as if it’s a stone.

Her grandmother told her once, the irony of hope: How it simultaneously makes and breaks people.

_When the clock struck three,_ Minjoo let her phone ring, Yuri’s face flashing on the screen, turning on, then off, then on again. Yuri sent her a text: _Where are you Kim Minjoo?_

_Cows, she wondered about that too. Where are you Chaewon?_

She hugged herself, hating the _cold_ . The one that’s not Chaewon’s _cold_. 

_By four_ , reality caught up to her. _Finally._

She stood up. The caretaker was back, it wasn’t the old woman this time, but Minjoo couldn’t bring herself to offer him a smile. She bought candles and flowers, and placed them on Chaewon’s cold grave.

  
  
  


She doesn’t remember how she walked back home, what path she took, only that she finds her face in between Yuri’s hands. 

“Gods Minjoo, where have you been? We’ve been looking for you all night.” 

_Is she saying something?_ Minjoo’s tired eyes languidly drift on her face, sees Yuri’s mouth moving, though she couldn’t quite [hear] make out [hear] the words.

“Shit, shit, Minjoo you’re burning up! What happened? Hmm?” Yuri coos, gently caressing Minjoo’s face. 

Yuri’s thumb under her eyes feels nice. She stumbles and Yuri catches her. That’s weird. She spent all night sitting, so why does her legs _ache_ ? _Ah,_ not just the legs. Her whole body aches.

“Yuri-ah…”

They both drop to the floor, Yuri’s hands on her arms as she struggles to hold Minjoo up. 

“I want to sleep.” Minjoo weakly whispers. She rests her head on Yuri’s shoulder.

“Sure, Joo. Sure. Rest all you need okay?” Yuri softly says, her hand placing gentle rubs on Minjoo’s back. 

Softly, gently, like any harsher will break Minjoo. 

Softly, gently, and Minjoo falls asleep tucked safely in Yuri’s embrace.

  
  
  
  


“Minjoo.”

Minjoo’s head pokes out her blanket, face puffy from all the sleep she’d had. These days, she’s been sleeping a lot. Waiting for dreams to descend. She read somewhere — she’s also been reading a lot — that people who’ve passed on visits and communicate through dreams. 

It may be wishful thinking, a fool’s move of desperation, but Chaewon appearing in her life was something she didn’t expect, let alone be possible. Maybe she’ll find fool’s gold eventually.

_Wishful thinking._ That’s all she can do now. _Oh_ , and also manage her guilt. If Chaewon has really passed on, then she should be happy for her. It’s no fun being trapped in the living world without a body and any recollection of who you are. 

_But she’s not._

“We’re going out today. You should come.” _‘Do you want to come?’_ changed to _‘You should come.’_ Minjoo doesn’t mean to shut Yuri off. But how could she understand?

Then Minjoo realizes she sounded like an edgy teen in that one. So she offers her a small smile and a slight shake of head. “I’m still sleepy Yul.”

Yuri sighs, and when Minjoo thinks she’s about to leave, Yuri fully enters her room, slamming the door. 

“That’s it!” She stomps towards Minjoo’s bed and pulls her cover. “Kim Minjoo, you are leaving this room for once! It’s been two weeks and you’re all cooped up in here like a vampire. Come on, do you plan to spend the whole break sleeping in?”

Minjoo lifelessly pulls back her blanket. “Yes Yul, it’s winter. I need to hibernate.” 

“What are you, a bear?” But Yuri’s eyes turn gentle. She sits on the bed, and the volume of her voice becomes exponentially softer than before. “ Joo… you know you can tell me anything.”

Minjoo likes it better when Yuri’s rash towards her. That’s how their friendship works, most of the time at least. The other gear is this: When Yuri speaks to her in a gentle and assuring manner, years of friendship manifested in how well they know each other, their quirks and knowing each other’s pains.

She avoids Yuri’s eyes and mumbles, “It’s nothing, really.”

“You’re a liar, you never look at me in the eyes when you lie.”

Minjoo gives her a pained expression and they stay like that for a moment, studying and sizing up each other, Yuri waiting for Minjoo to tell her the truth and the latter hoping for the former to let it go. 

Then, Minjoo sighs and looks away, shaking her head, “You won’t believe me anyway.”

She holds Minjoo’s hand, tugging on it to tell her to look at her. “Minjoo, I’m your best friend, if you tell me that you’re secretly a princess of some unknown country, I'll still believe you.” Yuri says, reminding her. 

“It’s us against the world, remember?” 

Aside from worry, Yuri also couldn’t help but feel guilty, maybe something was troubling Minjoo and she was too busy, caught up in her own relationship. _What a best friend she was._ She was so used to Minjoo being the one more well put between the two of them; when she has problems, all she needs to do is to run to Minjoo and the girl would always have a solution handed to her. She failed to notice that there was already something wrong with her friend.

But Minjoo holds her ground. She tugs at Yuri’s hand, and says with a resolute expression. “I’m fine Yul, I swear.”

_It isn’t true though._ Minjoo seems to read what’s running on Yuri’s mind. She squeezes Yuri’s hand in reassurance, a simple message saying that, _It’s isn’t true though. I run to you when I have problems too._

So Yuri gives up, respecting Minjoo’s decision. She releases a long sigh, then engulfs Minjoo in a hug as she whispers, “I’m just here okay? Don’t forget that.”

Minjoo manages a small laugh, her arms moving to hug Yuri back.

“I could never.”

  
  


Yuri’s phone buzzes.

“Don’t you need to go yet?” Minjoo points out. 

Yuri shakes her head. Hugging Minjoo tighter, she says, “I think I’m gonna stay in for today. Wanna rewatch Harry Potter with me?”

16

  
  


She doesn’t spend her whole break sleeping in bed. _No,_ Minjoo kept her promise.

It took her some time but she managed to pull herself together. Regularly visiting the cemetery, Minjoo makes sure that Chaewon’s grave is never empty, regularly filling it with flowers and candles, each time offering a silent prayer: A simple whisper to the wind. Recalling her day, what she ate, the song she heard at the store she passed by on the way — Things she used to talk about with Chaewon, as well as words Minjoo never got to say to her.

She even took it upon herself to cut off the growing weeds, and repaint the tombstone. Minjoo won’t let Chaewon’s grave be the saddest stone here anymore. _Not anymore._

She still burns her some snacks (Chaewon would totally lecture her about wasting food). But maybe it reaches the afterlife.

On days she couldn’t come, it’s when Yuri and Yena drag her to go out with them, or when her mother comes by to check on her and Yuri. Minjoo makes sure to make it up to Chaewon the next time she visits, though she never found it quite enough. 

Flowers, candles, prayers, and burnt offerings. _That’s all she could do now._

Is it why her grandmother used to prepare a feast, bought large candles and flowers, so many that the carvings on gramps’ grave were barely visible amidst the crowd of offerings? It must be. Because despite it all, it was never enough for her grandmother, but that’s all she could do.

  
  


There are days when Minjoo struggles with her feelings.

  1. She finds it _unfair._



Everything was a surprise, and she wasn’t given the chance to choose most of the time. She didn’t anticipate for Chaewon to come into her life. Surely did not plan to grow so close, and attached to her. It was unexpected how _Chaewon, the ghost_ simply became _Chaewon, a person [she loves] that’s dear to her._

Out of all the surprises that took her off her feet, she was completely unprepared for this: Chaewon disappearing, just as fast as she came into Minjoo’s room that night, asking to enter her body.

  1. Then she’s angry at herself for finding it unfair. 



Not when Chaewon was the one going around with no tangible body, no recollection of her past, nothing. Certainly not, when Chaewon was the one stuck in this world, forced to look at the living go on with their lives, reminding her of what she once had and could never have again. 

She’s being selfish.

  1. Then happiness. 



Minjoo didn’t know that there can be different kinds of happiness. This one though, is the sad kind. It’s silly, she supposes. How could there be a sad kind of happiness? Maybe it’s just her being a hypocrite. But Minjoo is genuinely happy for Chaewon. To be at rest at last. And she’s awfully, devastatingly sad too. 

When she thinks about why, to feel emotions that are the antonyms of each other, Minjoo’s head goes into a spiral.

Most days it’s just hollow though and she tries to keep her mind off _things,_ with things that keep her busy:

  1. Movie nights with Yuri and Alfie. Yena and Nako come by sometimes too.
  2. School requirements? But it’s the middle of their break!
  3. Drafting college plans. Must I write an essay about myself? My talents and achievements? 
  4. Tutoring Yujin and her _friend_ Wonyoung.
  5. ???
  6. Sleeping!!!



There’s really not a lot going on.

  * _Missing her._



  
  
  


17

  
  
  


“Nopeee, not gonna happen.”

Yuri tails behind her, all equipped with her perfectly polished puppy eyes and whiny voice that makes Minjoo think of a dog following her. 

“Minjoo, please! Just this one time.”

Minjoo turns to face her, arms folded as she glares at Yuri. “One time?” She asks unbelievably. “Jo Yuri, this has been the fifth time you’ve gotten community service for sleeping in class and I’ve substituted for you three times already!”

“I don’t even understand why it’s only me who gets detention for sleeping in class! You and Nako sleep every time and wake up when the bell rings.” Yuri grumbles. She stomps her feet on the ground, and clings onto Minjoo’ arm, pulling her. “Joo, pleaseee. I swear this’ll be the last time. I’ll attend the next community services next. And maybe you can add this to your extracurriculars.”

“You should say that you’re not gonna sleep in class again. Plus, me and Nako sit in the back row. How do you have the audacity to sit in front and sleep?” Minjoo rubs her eyebrows. She feels a headache incoming. “And I’m sure community services wouldn’t count as an extracurricular.”

“Well, whatever. But Joo, I already have a scheduled gig on that day. I’ll get sued if I don’t go.”

Minjoo bursts out laughing. One thing she and Yuri share together is their sense of exaggeration. “I’ll gladly visit you in jail.”

“And here I thought you’d be the one bailing me out.” Yuri pinches her and Minjoo retaliates with a slap on her arm.

“Sadly, your friend here doesn’t have money to get you out of prison nor is willing to start a prison break, ending with me joining you behind bars. But hey, isn’t my company more than enough?”

“No,” Yuri deadpans.

Minjoo grimaces and pushes her away. She lets out a sigh, then says, “Fine then. Give me the details.”

“Really?” Yuri starts jumping around then turns to hug Minjoo by the neck and Minjoo isn’t really quite sure if Yuri’s just so thankful to her or choking her. “Gosh, what did I do to deserve such a friend. Ange-”

She pretends to wipe tears on her eyes and Minjoo snaps her hand up. “Stop, or I’m taking it back.”

Yuri cackles. “Boo.”

“And you owe me meat.”

Yuri clutches her chest and dramatically sighs, “What friendship asks for things other than the company of each other?”

“Meat.” 

“Tsk, fine.” Yuri pouts. She proceeds to stand up and walk to the door. “Now, my work here is done~”

“By work, you mean, pester me.” Minjoo suggests, turning back to her laptop. She was doing her assignment on World Religions, when Yuri barged in calling for Jesus.

“Shh. Love ya too~” Yuri teases before closing the door.

  
  
  


18

Did she already mention that her school is the weirdest school in town? _Yeah, since it’s the only school in the place._ But how could they send her to a hospital miles away from them!? She had to wake up at four to catch the train bound for the town next to theirs.

With great help from random people unlucky enough to meet her on the streets, Minjoo gets the direction and finds herself in front of the hospital’s information desk. 

It’s empty.

She’s about to walk back to the guard when a voice calls her from behind. “Oh, I’ve been waiting for you.”

It must be because of the _new golden front tooth._

Minjoo almost didn’t recognize her. But the crows feet at the side of her eyes are still there, glassy saggy cheeks where brown pigments scatter, same cryptic grey eyes that always gives Minjoo an impression that the old lady knows her more than she knows herself.

Her face lit up with recognition, the old woman’s face plastered with the same kindly smile she gives to Minjoo, only this time it’s more vibrant, her once chipped tooth, now replaced with a golden one. 

“Granny, how have you been? _It’s been a while.”_

It’s the old caretaker from the cemetery. The last time Minjoo saw her was...well, when she and Chaewon visited the cemetery for the first time together. It was a nice day. A nice memory. And with it takes Minjoo’s best efforts to keep her heart from sinking.

“As fine as an old lady could be. With that, I mean, my back and knees are killing me.” Her laugh is hoarse and throaty. 

“But alas! There are still things that need to be done before this old woman can truly rest.”

“Like manning the front desk?” Minjoo asks. 

She flashes her golden smile and slightly shakes her head. “That too, but mostly, I have been waiting for you, young lady.”

Minjoo senses the double entendre behind the old lady’s words, from the way she tones her elderly voice, but Minjoo could never point out the meaning behind such ambiguity. And maybe she’s just overthinking. 

Maybe she’s just the school’s appointed facilitator to make sure the students do their service well. That's it probably. 

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting.” Minjoo bows her head. 

The old lady asked her to sign a logbook. Minjoo prays that the old lady wouldn’t bother checking it later as it was Yuri’s name she wrote on the paper. Then she hands Minjoo clipboard with a list of patient numbers and rooms. 

“Check if the beddings have been replaced and leave it blank if not. You can start here on the first floor and make your way to the fourth.” She instructs.

Minjoo thanks her before starting her work. It seems quite easy. The white halls are devoid of any people, save for the janitor, nurses and staff walking around. The rooms are mostly empty too.

She passes by a room, peeks through the small square of the door, and sees the staff changing the bed sheet and removing the gas tank. Minjoo prefers to believe that the patient that once resided in that room is well enough already to be discharged. 

Life, after all, is just a series of perspectives.

The old lady told her to avoid occupied rooms but Minjoo couldn’t help but take a peek through the glass whenever she passed by. Elderlies, adults, children — Minjoo sees them all and she’s hit with a sense of awareness. And she could go on into a philosophical enterprise, dive into a conundrum of how intertwined life and death are but… 

But really, _her mind just mostly ends up thinking about her._

Minjoo never really knew how Chaewon died. Was it due to some sickness? An accident? She could only guess. Chaewon’s past was a mystery through and through. She remembers searching her name up on the internet, Chaewon restlessly waiting behind her as they stare at the loading screen, only to see nothing.

It’s deja vu. 

As Minjoo walks the hospital halls, she’s oddly reminded of the night she came to clean in the cemetery and the morbid relatedness of the two places. It’s similar: Occupied rooms with only the resting body on bed and an empty vase of flowers. Barren and muddied tombstones. Occupied rooms, loved ones waiting for the resting body on bed to wake up, a basket of fruits on the table. Candlelight and flower-filled gravestones.

“Room 409...Check!” Minjoo places a check mark on the table and goes out of the room. Finally, she’s done. All she needs to do is give the list back to the old lady. 

She’s about to ride the elevator down to the 1st floor when she spots an empty row on the list. Room 205. _Weird._ She was quite sure she checked all the empty rooms on the second floor. She must have passed by it. 

Taking the stairs, Minjoo pauses to catch her breath. The antiseptic smell of the hospital filling her lungs. She jogs again and scans the room number until she reaches Room 205 and halts. 

_Oh, that must be why she missed it. A mistake on the list probably?_

  
  
  


There’s a _person_ inside.

Minjoo decides to leave the row blank, and is about to leave when her eyes catches the name written below the room number.

_Kwon Chaewon._

Her lips form a small smile at the name. She hopes this Chaewon would make it through. 

Peering through the window again, Minjoo notices that the walls inside are of a different color — mint green — compared to the plaster of white walls in the hospital hall and the other rooms. 

Come to think of it, the room doesn’t even look like a hospital room. A large couch across the bed, a coffee table with a basket of fruits and magazines, a coffee maker and water dispenser at the side. Even the bed is larger and more comfy looking than the usual hospital beds. On the table beside the bed is a vase filled with differently colored flowers. The floor is covered with mat, a darker shade of green where an incomplete jigsaw puzzle lies, pieces of it scattered around. 

The only thing reminding Minjoo that it’s still a hospital room is the motionless body of a girl lying on the bed. Her face is covered by her black hair and Minjoo could only make her thin body, almost frail, the mattress almost engulfing her.

She’s flooded with relief when she sees the steady rise and fall of the girl’s chest.

Her line of sight travels on the red curtains, parted and strikingly out of place amidst the green walls and floor.

Minjoo would have found it funny how she’s peering through the small window of the door to peer through the larger window across. But a strong gust of wind freely enters through the opened window —at least Minjoo could tell that it’s wind because _how else would you explain_ the force that swept the girl’s hair away from her face and — 

Minjoo’s ears are ringing, the floor she’s standing on, buzzing.

_It can’t be._

She takes a step forward until her knees hit the door, her hand on the glass window.

  
  


_When Chaewon came into Minjoo’s life, it was life taking her by surprise._

She takes a moment to breathe, the knot in her chest, that one that came back ever since that night, slowly unraveling.

_When Chaewon disappeared, it was life tripping her on her feet, a surprise sneak attack._

At crucial times, Minjoo remembers the odd things. This time, her mind takes her back to when she finds a desolate grave in the middle of the night, no flowers, no candles, only dust and mud that collected over time, her heart tightening.

_Minjoo thought she’d had enough surprises. But Chaewon is a surprise she’ll never get tired of._

She takes one final deep breath, unsure if she’s able to breathe once she goes anywhere near her. The metal knob of the door is as cold as the grey stone on her palm when she brushes off the dust and wipes away the mud, fingers tracing the words carve on it.

When she opens the door, Minjoo fails to notice the chimes above the doorway, and the clanking of metals amplifies the buzzing within her head. 

Then Minjoo sees her slowly open her eyes. She turns her head towards her and their eyes lock. 

Minjoo finally understands why Chaewon’s black eyes have always unsettled her before. Because they’re not supposed to be black, but _brown. Warm brown._

Minjoo falters in her steps, and stops. She keeps her distance.

_Does she even remember me?_ An ugly fear starts creeping into her, settling into her stomach making her feel sick. Chaewon is still looking at her, an unreadable expression on her face. For all she knows, Chaewon doesn’t know or remember her at all and wonders why a random stranger is barging into her room.

But then Chaewon subtly tilts her head, her pale lips parting, voice hoarse as she utters, “Hi.”

She thought she’ll never get to hear her voice again. 

“Looks like I won’t need to enter your body anymore.”

Minjoo lets out a breath that seems to be part scoff and part laugh. She wipes a stray tear in her eye, smiling.

  
  


**_“I found you.”_ **

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Aha, Greetings of peace and prosperity. 
> 
> I hope you had fun reading as much as I had fun writing this. Of course, this is inspired from when MJ shared about her dream of a "pretty ghost" during a vlive hihi. Though it took me months of on and off writing, but I finally finished! Hooray! *pats myself*
> 
> Anyways, please do share your thoughts down below! I'd love to hear them. 
> 
> See you! Hit me up @galacticfroggie


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